Mazal Asael's aunt Mazal Rafailova's family

My mother's sister Mazal's family and her children are on this picture, taken in the 1940s in Sofia. My aunt Mazal is from the left in the first row, next to her are her son Avram, her daughter Lili and her husband Leon. From the right in the second row are Samuil, Vita, Nisim and Rufat. The photo was taken before 1944 and they are wearing badges. My aunt lived in the Jewish neighbourhood at 9 Bregalnitza Street in Sofia with her husband, who had his own house, and my grandparents also lived there for a certain period of time. Mazal's husband was a house painter. His father had been a chazzan at the synagogue and people in the quarter respected him very much. Rufat and Samuil left for Israel through Vienna in 1946 before the foundation of the country. They trained to fight in the war for the liberation of the Jewish land there. After that they enrolled in the Israeli army. They were both parachutists. Samuil became a hero in Israel later on. Their sister Vita also left for Israel in 1946, some time after them.

Photos from this interviewee