Matilda Levi (nee Beni) and Morduhay Levi

On the photo are my mother Matilda Levi (nee Beni) and my father Morduhay Levi.

It was taken in 1959 – 1960 in a studio. There is a seal of the studio on the back of the photo – HUD. KINO – Photographer …. [illegible] Sofia, 14 Gr. Ignatiev Str.

My mother was very beautiful and had a lean figure.

The son of the owner of one of the houses, in which she sewed, fell in love with her and they engaged.

He was a Jew from a very rich family and she was very poor, but he was sick of tuberculosis and his parents could not protest his choice. The engagement lasted nine months.

He gave her as a gift a very beautiful small polished chest, made like a jewel, with small drawers and doors and incrustations. He left the engagement ring in one of the drawers.

Later my father did not want to see that chest, but my mother preserved it.

The fiance died of tuberculosis when my mother was 18 years old. I do not know his name.

He was rarely spoken of at home, because my father was jealous of him.

My mother told me the story of their love when I found the chest she was keeping.

When he died, my mother could not overcome her grief for a long time.

In the course of time she managed to earn enough money to live better, because the rich people paid her well.

Her brother Leon was also successful and earned enough money to enroll in a trade high school.

During his studies my mother also helped him financially together with their other brother Meshulam, who also started working.

When Leon graduated, he became an accountant and he and my mother started supporting Meshulam who also wanted to graduate the same school.

Only the youngest son Zhak did not want to study. He became a goldsmith and was sent to France to learn the craft.

When my mother became 24 years old, she met my father through her brother Leon.

My father had returned from Paris and his first decision was to call my mother's brother Leon to see him.

My father and my mother liked each other very much. My father was also handsome.

They fell in love and married without any dowry on my mother's part.