Leon Madzhar's family photo

This is a family photo taken in Dupnitsa in the 1930s. Samuel Yuda Komforti, my mother's brother, is third from left to right in the second row up. The first woman standing on the left is Liza Komforti, Samuel's wife. Nissim Yuda Komforti, another of my mother's brothers is also in the second row, fourth from left to right (there is a woman with a black dress next to him - in the middle of the row). In the row above it are my brother-in-law Telo (fourth from left to right in the upper row) and my sister Sarina Israel Mordoh (nee Mordehay Madzhar). Below Sara is Mishela Komforti - wife of Nissim Yuda Komforti (another of my mother's brothers); next to her is Alfred Yuda Komforti, who is also a brother of my mother (he is wearing a shirt and a tie). The man with the mustache is Rufel Yuda Komforti (second from right to left) and then there's his wife Matilda Komforti (wearing a dress with spots). My grandmother Sara was a housewife and looked after the children; there were eight of them, after all! My grandfather had elementary education from the Jewish school. He was a very polite man. I can't say that he was religious, my grandmother wasn't either. Only Ladino was spoken at home. They also knew Bulgarian, although my grandmother didn't know it very well. I don't know whether they knew any other languages. My mother had four brothers and three sisters: Samuel, Rufel, Nissim, Alfred, Mois, Sterina, Rebeka and my mother - Buka. They had one more sister, but she drowned very young in the river, poor thing! My mother was the eldest, which is why she was named Buka. She told me that they were so poor that they didn't even have beds. When she got older, her father bought her a bed and she was the only one in the family to have one.