Menahem Josifov

This is a picture of the football team of Pleven in 1935 in which my husband Menahem Josifov used to play. He is the second from the left in the first row. He played for the football team of Pleven for several years. There wasn't any anti - Semitism in Pleven at the beginning of 1930s and he could freely play with other sportsmen. My husband and I met each other in the choir of the synagogue where we both used to sing. The Jewish choir was a meeting place for young Jews. My husband and I met each other in the choir of the synagogue where we both used to sing. I married him on 30th June 1945. Our marriage was one of the first civil marriages in Sofia. Our love lasted and we waited for several years for each other while we were interned from Sofia. My family was interned in Kjustendil and his in the town of Byala Slatina in North Bulgaria. We went to live on Ekzarh Josif Street opposite the central public baths after we got married. Several families lived there. It was very packed, so we rented a lodging on Dondukov Boulevard with the help of a friend of my father's. We didn't live on our own there either - we shared the place with one more family. Menahem and I hardly managed to see each other in that period for we were both busy working all the time. We worked hard, and I even had to look after my two children after work. My older daughter, Lora, was born in 1946 and my younger one, Iza, in 1950.