Eshua Almalech is one of the 48,000 Bulgarian Jews who were rescued from the Holocaust. He is one of the founders of the daily "Narodna mladej" and newspaper "Start." As he remembers the days in 1943, his eyes fill with tears.
Mr. Almalech spoke with Martina Iovcheva
Q: How were you saved from the Nazi camps?
A: These events coincided with my 19th birthday in Plovdiv. I was a last year pupil in the French College in Plovdiv. I remember these days as though they are happening today. Metropolitan Cyril who became later patriarch came to the Jewish school and told us "We will not allow that disgrace. You are not going to the station but to the church."
I come from Stara Zagora and there were only thirteen Jewish families. My father who was well known in the town had friends among the railmen. They told him that they chose a nice cargo carriage (for 55 people and eight horses) for us.
The first shipment, signed by the Jewish issues commissioner, authorized by the government and the palace, had to consist of twenty thousand Jews. 11, 434 Jews from Macedonia, the Aegean and Pirin regions were part of that shipment but they were not enough and some eight to nine thousand other Bulgarian Jews were added. I was one of them.
Second and third shipments were also envisaged.
Those days we had no rights - we couldn't work and study. However, we kept warmth for Bulgaria in our hearts since our friends from Bulgaria helped us all the time. There is one unique case with the Holy Synod - for four years starting from 1940, every time that the Holy Synod met, they discussed the measures that could be taken to save the Bulgarian Jews.
Hours before we had to get on the trains, an announcement came that the deportation was cancelled and everyone could go back home.
Q: Did you know where you were going?
A: No. We didn't really know then. Probably, I had a vague idea. When I was a pupil in the French College in Sofia, which was a school for French Catholics, my teacher called me and told me: "You're a nineteen-year old boy. Why do you have to die?." When I asked her what she meant, she told me that the Catholics had information that I was going to be send to the death camps from where there was no escape. And she said: "Tell your father to leave you here. We'll take care of you. We have one condition - you have to be converted to Christianity." Supposedly, Jews who were Christians could be saved from deportation. But the truth was that the government said that Jews who were converted to Christianity after January 1st, 1942 were not recognized.
Q: What happened after the deportation to the camps was cancelled?
A: All Jews were moved from Sofia. After I finished school, I came back to my native Stara Zagora and I saw hundreds of Jewish families coming from Sofia. Less than a month later, these families together with us - from Stara Zagora and Kazanluk were deported to small towns in Northern Bulgaria. The Jews from Kyustendil who were planned as the main shipment to the camps were not deported from Kyustendil. Jews from Sofia, Varna, Kazanluk and Stara Zagora were moved.
Q: Where were you deported?
A: I was sent to Lukovit - I love this place as a second native one. Lukovit is a small village. The people there probably heard for the first time the word Jews and saw Jews for the first time. They probably wondered what kind of people are these....You can't imagine the attitude of these people! Such a great attitude of the Bulgarian people in such hard times! They hid us, helped us, gave us work when we were banned to work...
Q: What is the meaning of the Holocaust Day for you?
A: This is a great day! All Bulgarians who left Bulgaria in 1948 and went to Israel love Bulgaria more. Four to five thousand Jews remained in Bulgaria. All the rest - some 45,000 emigrated to Israel. My parents went and died there and my only sister lives in Israel. I have been there over twenty times and every time that I am in Israel, our friends want us to gather and to sing Bulgarian songs. They sing Bulgarians songs and cry... They come to Bulgaria regularly and for them Bulgaria is very precious...
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