Bulgaria

In the Ronald S Lauder Jewish day school in Sofia, Bulgaria. Some 350 Jewish children were attending in 1999. In the Ronald S Lauder day school in Sofia. Before 1989, there was no such thing as a Jewish school in Bulgaria, and the communtiy was run by hard line communists who made sure learning Hebrew was kept outside the community itself. All that changed radically after 1989. The Lauder foundation has been helpingJewish children learn about their heritage, their identity, and their traditions. They also study Hebrew. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Meals on wheels deliver at home in Sofia. The Bulgarian economy continued to skid in the years after the overthrow of communism, and an entire middle class of pensioners found themselves impoverished due to rampant inflation. JDC was forced to create an extensive social welfare program of free food, medicine and social worker home visits for nearly 500 elderly Jews. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

In the Ronald S Lauder day school in Sofia. Before 1989, there was no such thing as a Jewish school in Bulgaria, and the communtiy was run by hard line communists who made sure learning Hebrew was kept outside the community itself. All that changed radically after 1989. The Lauder foundation has been helpingJewish children learn about their heritage, their identity, and their traditions. They also study Hebrew. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Juliana Farhi, a Buncher program graduate, created a project so that elderly Jewish women in Bulgaria could show traditional Sephardi handicrafts to younger Jewish women in the community. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Viktor Djerassi and friends in an informal Jewish education workshop in the Jewish community center. Long denied access to Jewish culture and tradition, the generation that grew up after 1989 threw themselves into Jewish life. Their programs attracted between 25 to 125 Jewish youth at a time. JDC and World Jewish Relief helped support their programs. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Bela Stanchava, left.Afternoon in the senior's club in the Sofia Jewish community center. With mounting inflation, stagnant pensions, crime on the streets, elderly Bulgarian Jews came to the community center in ever increasing numbers after 1989. They were also happy to see the end of the collaborationist set of community leaders who ran the community during the communist decades. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Solomon Levi, center.Afternoon in the senior's club in the Sofia Jewish community center. With mounting inflation, stagnant pensions, crime on the streets, elderly Bulgarian Jews came to the community center in ever increasing numbers after 1989. They were also happy to see the end of the collaborationist set of community leaders who ran the community during the communist decades. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Friday night dinner and shabbat service for children and families. During the communist period, nothing like this could be held in the community. By 1999 more than 150 people were turning up on Friday nights for events like this. Supported by JDc and World Jewish Relief. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Friday night dinner and shabbat service for children and families. During the communist period, nothing like this could be held in the community. By 1999 more than 150 people were turning up on Friday nights for events like this. Supported by JDC and World Jewish Relief. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Viktor Djerassi says the blessing over the challah.Friday night dinner and shabbat service for children and families. During the communist period, nothing like this could be held in the community. By 1999 more than 150 people were turning up on Friday nights for events like this. Supported by JDC and World Jewish Relief. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Friday night dinner and shabbat service for children and families. During the communist period, nothing like this could be held in the community. By 1999 more than 150 people were turning up on Friday nights for events like this. Supported by JDC and World Jewish Relief. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Computer class the Ronald S Lauder day school in Sofia. Before 1989, there was no such thing as a Jewish school in Bulgaria, and the communtiy was run by hard line communists who made sure learning Hebrew was kept outside the community itself. All that changed radically after 1989. The Lauder foundation has been helpingJewish children learn about their heritage, their identity, and their traditions. They also study Hebrew. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

An informal Jewish education workshop in the Jewish community center in Sofia. Long denied access to Jewish culture and tradition, the generation that grew up after 1989 threw themselves into Jewish life. Their programs attracted between 25 to 125 Jewish youth at a time. JDC and World Jewish Relief helped support their programs. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Learning Hebrew in the JCC in Sofia. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

The Ronald S Lauder Jewish kindergarten in Sofia. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Sofia Danon, 89 years old, receiving medical help at home after her breast cancer surgery. She was born in Pazardjik in 1910 and lived in Sofia since 1914. She had worked as a journalist and then was a diplomat, working in the Bulgarian embassy in Prague. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Sofia Danon, 89 years old, receiving medical help at home after her breast cancer surgery. She is tended by a nurse and Dr Anika Maierova. She was born in Pazardjik in 1910 and lived in Sofia since 1914. She had worked as a journalist and then was a diplomat, working in the Bulgarian embassy in Prague. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Nina Alajem in the Sofia Jewish community center's dining room. With a collapsed economy and the vast majority of their families having left for Israel in the late 1940s, Sofia's elderly Jews faced the 1990s desperate for companionship, financial assistance and medicine. JDC and World Jewish Relief provided them. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

The great synagogue of Sofia. An enormous, domed temple built in the center of the city by a Viennese architect in 1909, there are both Moorish and art deco elements in its decorations. After WW2, the synagogue fell into disrepair. The communist government claimed to be restoring it, but only after 1989 did restoration begin in earnest, funded by the Rich Foundation, Glencoe Foundation, Ronald Lauder, and others. These photographs show the building in various states during my 10 visits there between 1985 and 2001. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

B'nai B'rith meeting in the Sofia Jewish community center. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Sunday school in the Sofia JCC. 40 - 60 children came every week. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Friday night dinner and shabbat service for children and families. During the communist period, nothing like this could be held in the community. By 1999 more than 150 people were turning up on Friday nights for events like this. Supported by JDC and World Jewish Relief. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Sunday school in the Sofia JCC. 40 - 60 children came every week.Note the look on the faces of the boys, who are being shown a human skull. Compare to the next picture. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Sunday school in the Sofia JCC. 40 - 60 children came every week.Young student less than enthralled by being handed a human skull. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Sunday school in the Sofia JCC. 40 - 60 children came every week. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Poetry reading in the WIZO club in the community center. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Around 75 people ate every day in the kosher restaurant in the Sofia Jewish community center. The criteria for receiving free meals was that applicants could not have any living relative. Nearly 100 came each day. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Albert Haim Around 75 people ate every day in the kosher restaurant in the Sofia Jewish community center. The criteria for receiving free meals was that applicants could not have any living relative. Nearly 100 came each day. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Mordo Almosino, 92 yrs old, speaking with Stefan Oscar, who works for JDC. Around 75 people ate every day in the kosher restaurant in the Sofia Jewish community center. The criteria for receiving free meals was that applicants could not have any living relative. Nearly 100 came each day. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Mrs Melamed in her Sofia apartment, knitting. Juliana Farhi, a Buncher program graduate, created a project so that elderly Jewish women in Bulgaria could show traditional Sephardi handicrafts to younger Jewish women in the community. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Friday night dinner and shabbat service for children and families. During the communist period, nothing like this could be held in the community. By 1999 more than 150 people were turning up on Friday nights for events like this. Supported by JDC and World Jewish Relief. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Nisim Bebasi, 84 years old, receiving physical therapy in the Sofia JCC. He had worked as a journalist for 32 years. The physical therapy center seems 20 to 25 clients per day. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Street musician in Sofia. January, 1999 Bulgaria Sofia

Fomer synagogue of Ruse, Bulgaria, which was turned into an artists' studio. May, 1989 Bulgaria Ruse

Mois Pasi, head of Varna's Jewish Cultural organization. He told me that there had been 1200 Jews in Varna, a lovely city on the Black Sea. Jews had always been in Varna since Roman times, but the biggest migration cam settled in the 19th century and mainly from Istanbul and Salonika. When a French Jewish charity tried to help establish a Jewish agricultural center in Edirne and it failed, most of the Jews relocated to Varna. There had been two synagogues, both now lost to the community, which had less than 100 members. The large synagogue was off limits inside the navy yard. The smaller one was a sports hall. There had once been a school as well, Pasi said. May, 1989 Bulgaria Varna

Jewish cemetery in Varna. May, 1989 Bulgaria Varna

In the Burgas Jewish cultural organization club house. Head of the community, Isaac Kalderon, stands on left and Maer Mitrani. On the back wall, that's Georgi Dimitrov on the left, Tudor Zhivkov on the right. The two men are holding picturs of Jews who fought in the partisans during World War Two. May, 1989 Bulgaria Burgas

The former synagogue of Burgas, which became an art gallery. May, 1989 Bulgaria Burgas

The domed, Moorish synagogue of Sofia, built in 1909 bu a Viennese architect. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Market in central Sofia. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

At the official residence of Prime Minister Tudor Zhivkov, the octogenarian head of Bulgaria, during his speech to Jews invited to hear him tell the crowd how he was responsible for saving the Jews of Bulgaria during the Second World War. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Panel discussion at commemoration conference for saving the Jews of Bulgaria during World War Two. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

People lounging on Georgi Dimitrov's tomb. The first communist head of Bulgaria was embalmed by Lenin's embalmers, and he lay in state until the fall of communism in 1989, when the corpse was taken away and incincerated. Someone spray painted on the side of the building, "It still stinks!" In 1995 the entire building was demolished. September, 1990 Bulgaria Sofia

Interior of the Sholem Aleichem Club in the Plovdiv Jewish community center. A photograph of Georgi Dimitrov is on the wall. May, 1989 Bulgaria Plovdiv

Friday evening in the Sofia Jewish community center. The community center had usually three Friday evening programs-- for teenagers, for families, and for residents of the old age home, who were brought down to eat with friends. This picture was taken at the 3rd event. October, 2016 Bulgaria Sofia

Robert Djerassi, left, is JDC's local representative in Bulgaria. Stefan Oscar, his assistant, ran the youth programs. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Members of the Bulgarian Jewish youth club, which had a mailing list of 400 members. Whenever there was a meeting, messages went to each cell phone by SMS. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Mr Lazar in exercize class in the Sofia Jewish old age home, which opened in the 1990s with funding from JDC and Claims Conference. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Woman's dance group.After laying dormant for four decades under communism, Bulgaria's Jews were anxious to re-create their community and re-learn Jewish traditions, crafts and communal activities. This is a JDC sponsored dance group for Jewish women, who came to the community center once each week. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Stefan Oscar, center, leader of the Jewish youth club of Bulgaria. His idea was to create a more responsive youth club, one that would address the needs an aspirations of the country's Jewish youth. He created photography clubs, ordered internet linked computers, rented films on Jewish themes, arranged hikes, outings, lecture series. by 2001 he had more than 400 students on the mailing list. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Stefan Oscar, right, leader of the Jewish youth club of Bulgaria. On the left is Moni Beniosev director of the club.Stefan's idea was to create a more responsive youth club, one that would address the needs an aspirations of the country's Jewish youth. He created photography clubs, ordered internet linked computers, rented films on Jewish themes, arranged hikes, outings, lecture series. by 2001 he had more than 400 students on the mailing list. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Stefan Oscar, right, leader of the Jewish youth club of Bulgaria. At left is Moni Beniosev, 21 yrs old. Moni driects the club.Stefan's idea was to create a more responsive youth club, one that would address the needs an aspirations of the country's Jewish youth. He created photography clubs, ordered internet linked computers, rented films on Jewish themes, arranged hikes, outings, lecture series. by 2001 he had more than 400 students on the mailing list. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Zahira Rachmamim Levi, born 1922 in Karnovat, shows pictures from her family albums in her Sofia apartment. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Holocaust memorial in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. March, 2001 Bulgaria Plovdiv

After laying dormant for four decades under communism, Bulgaria's Jews were anxious to re-create their community and re-learn Jewish traditions, crafts and communal activities. This is a JDC sponsored dance group for Jewish women, who came to the community center once each week. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

After laying dormant for four decades under communism, Bulgaria's Jews were anxious to re-crerate their community and re-learn Jewish traditions, crafts and communal activities. This is a JDC sponsored dance group for Jewish women, who came to the community center once each week. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Residents of the Sofia Jewish old age home on an excursion to the Plovdiv jewish community. Some two dozen elderely Jews lived in the home, which was built in the 1990s with Claims Conference and JDC funds. March, 2001 Bulgaria Plovdiv

Yosiff Benaroia recounted how he and his family had to wear these yellow stars in Plovdiv. He recalls how Jews were rounded up in the city center in March 1943 for deportation, but the Orthodox Metropolitans and a crowd of workers prevented it, and the police backed down. March, 2001 Bulgaria Plovdiv

Editor of the Jewish newspaper in Sofia. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Jewish old age home in Sofia, built in the 1990s by theClaims Conference and JDC. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Student receiving a challah on Friday at the Lauder school in Sofia. All children receive a challah, then go home and teach their parents how to conduct a Friday service at home. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Students receiving loaves of challah on Friday at the Lauder school in Sofia. All children receive a challah, then go home and teach their parents how to conduct a Friday service at home. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Rachel and her challah. The sign reads Shabbat Sholem. The Lauder schools throughout Eastern Europe give challahs to their students on Fridays, and most of thechildren then go home to teach their parents how to conduct a Friday evening service at home. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Students at the Lauder school learning how to conduct a Friday night service. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Juliana Farhi visiting Zahira Rachamim Levi in her apartment. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Children at the Lauder school learning how to conduct their own Friday night shabbat service. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

At a Friday night dinner in the Sofia Jewish community center. Residents of the Jewish old age home are brought to the center to be with their family members, grandchildren and children. More than 75 people usually attend such weekly events. Other dinners take place concurrently throughout the building. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Stefan Oscar, left, in profile, was the leader of the Jewish youth club. Trained in a Buncher seminarr, Oscar maintained the community had to reach out to the community's young. He created several programs that by 2001 had 400 Jewish youth on the mailing list and nearly 100 of them were active in some form. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

Stefan Oscar was the leader of the Jewish youth club. Trained in a Buncher seminarr, Oscar maintained the community had to reach out to the community's young. He created several programs that by 2001 had 400 Jewish youth on the mailing list and nearly 100 of them were active in some form. March, 2001 Bulgaria Sofia

The yellow star worn by Bulgarian Jews during 1942-1943. Yosiff Benaroia had kept his, and wore it every March 15, to commemorate the days Jews in Plovdiv were forced out of their homes and gathered in the city center. The Orthodox Metropolitan and a band of workers, however, forced the police to back down, and the Jews were not deported. March, 2001 Bulgaria Plovdiv

City gates to Vidim, an old Turkish fortified city on the Danube. May, 1989 Bulgaria Vidim

Social realist art in Vidim. May, 1989 Bulgaria Plovdiv

The house in Ruse where Elias Canetti, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, was born. The first 40 pages of his autobiography revolve around this house. The home was owned in 1989 by Lyuben Dakov, who grew up in the house. So many people knocked on his door wanting to see it, he taught himself German just to read Canetti. May, 1989 Bulgaria Ruse

In the courtyard of the house in Ruse where Elias Canetti, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, was born. The first 40 pages of his autobiography revolve around this house. The home was owned in 1989 by Lyuben Dakov (right) who grew up in the house. He is standing with Robert Beracha, president of the community. So many people knocked on Dakov's door wanting to see Canetti's house, he taught himself German just to read Canetti. May, 1989 Bulgaria Ruse

Cantor Chaim Meshlam of the tiny religious community in Sofia. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Grave of a radio journalist Zelma Azriel Almelech May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Monument for Jewish partisans killed during World War Two. May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Section of the Sofia Jewish cemetery. May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Abandoned synagogue in the town of Samakov. According to Mordechai Mevorah, the Arie family came from Samakov, and paid for the synagogue's construction. They had a private entrance from their home next door. Around 1,000 Jews lived in the city in 1919, and all left for Israel after 1945. November, 1988 Bulgaria Samakov

Worker in front of the former Vidim synagogue, which was being turned into a city cultural center. By 2001 very little work had been done. May, 1989 Bulgaria Vidim

The former Vidim synagogue, which was being turned into a city cultural center. By 2001 very little work had been done. May, 1989 Bulgaria Vidim

Maxim Davidov (left) a newspaper journalist in Sofia. He told me, "The Jewish experience in Bulgaria will end with the dying out of the older generation that stayed after 1948 and built communism here." The old generation did die out, but Jewish life was reborn. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Abandoned Jewish cemetery and synagogue in the town of Samakov. According to Mordechai Mevorah, the Arie family came from Samakov, and paid for the synagogue's construction. They had a private entrance from their home next door. Around 1,000 Jews lived in the city in 1919, and all left for Israel after 1945. November, 1988 Bulgaria Samakov

The Sofia Jewish community center's museum on the role of Jews in the anti-fascist movements in Bulgarian history. The museum was taken down after 1989. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Dr Josef Astrukov, head of the Jewish Cultural Association. He had photographs of Tudor Zhivkov on one side of his desk and Georgi Dimitrov on the other (as it turns out, the last and first communist leaders of Bulgaria). Astrukov and his colleagues were hardline anti-Israel, prevented the study of Hebrew in the community center, saw to it no Jewish books were in the Jewish library, and offered little in the way of genuine Jewish tradition or teachings in his community. He resigned at the end of 1989. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Jewish cemetery in Varna. May, 1989 Bulgaria Varna

From left, Isaac Kalderon, Niko Nessim Varsano, Ernesta Benzey and Maer Mitrani, the Burgas Jewish cultural association. They told me there had been 800 to 1,000 Jews in Bulgaria before the war. Now there were 120. "We have no community and there are no believers here...we used to have a very active Jewish community, but now, there's not even a community." May, 1989 Bulgaria Burgas

Synagogue in Burgas, built at the turn of the century for a community of aroun 800 to 1,000. After the war, it became an art gallery. May, 1989 Bulgaria Burgas

Ceremonial hall of the Jewish cemetery in Varna. May, 1989 Bulgaria Varna

Interior, the great synagogue of Sofia. An enormous, domed temple built in the center of the city by a Viennese architect in 1909, there are both Moorish and art deco elements in its decorations. After WW2, the synagogue fell into disrepair. The communist government claimed to be restoring it, but only after 1989 did restoration begin in earnest, funded by the Rich Foundation, Glencoe Foundation, Ronald Lauder, and others. These photographs show the building in various states during my 10 visits there between 1985 and 2001. May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Mr Levi, head of the religious congregation of Sofia in the great synagogue of Sofia. An enormous, domed temple built in the center of the city by a Viennese architect in 1909, there are both Moorish and art deco elements in its decorations. After WW2, the synagogue fell into disrepair. The communist government claimed to be restoring it, but only after 1989 did restoration begin in earnest, funded by the Rich Foundation, Glencoe Foundation, Ronald Lauder, and others. These photographs show the building in various states during my 10 visits there between 1985 and 2001. May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Mr and Mrs Moise Benari and their two children. They were the only Jewish couple in the city. May, 1989 Bulgaria Jambol

Synagogue in Plovdiv. Built in 1875, it was renovated in 1923. Around 700 Jews lived there in 1989, and around 500 were there in 2001. May, 1989 Bulgaria Plovdiv

Nissim Cohen, a former Bulgarian ambassador to several South American countries. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Chaim Levi and other Jewish journalists, who contributed to the Jewish newspaper of Bulgaria, which carried the party line until the fall of communism in 1989. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Synagogue in Plovdiv. Built in 1875, it was renovated in 1923. Around 700 Jews lived there in 1989, and around 500 were there in 2001. May, 1989 Bulgaria Plovdiv

Member of the Plovdiv Jewish community in the jewish cemetery, filled with Sephardi style gravestones. May, 1989 Bulgaria Plovdiv

Jean Solomon holds a picture of his grandfather. Solomon was one of the few observant Jews in Bulgaria in the 1980s. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Edi Scvarz, president of the Shalom Club, which replaced the old communist apparatchik organization, sits at the head of the table. September, 1990 Bulgaria Sofia

Edi Scvarz, president of the Shalom Club, which replaced the old communist apparatchik organization, at his desk in the community center. September, 1990 Bulgaria Sofia

Market scene, Sofia. December, 1985 Bulgaria Sofia

Jewish cemetery, Sofia. May, 1990 Bulgaria Sofia

Driving toward Rila monastery December, 1985 Bulgaria nowshere

Part of the exhibition on Jews in the anti-fascist struggle in Bulgaria in the Jewish community center. The exhibition was taken down after 1989. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Street scene, Sofia. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Wedding party, Sofia. May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Mausoleum for Georgi Dimitrov, the father of Bulgarian communism. He embalmed body lay inside. In 1990 he was incinerated and the building torn down. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Typical Sephardi looking tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Plovdiv. May, 1989 Bulgaria Plovdiv

The house of Elias Canetti, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The first 40 pages of his autobiography, The Tongue Set Free, were set in his hometown and in this house. May, 1989 Bulgaria Ruse

Meeting room in the Jewish Cultural Association. May, 1989 Bulgaria Ruse

Robert Berecha, a retired economist, making a point to my translator, Stoev. January, 1970 Bulgaria Ruse

With only 100 or so Jews in Burgas after the war, the synagogue was given to the city, which turned it into an art gallery. May, 1989 Bulgaria Burgas

Neo Classical synagogue in Jambol. Only one Jewish family lived in the city when I visited. May, 1989 Bulgaria Jambol

Former synagogue of Vidim, which in 1989, was being restored as a cultural center. by 2001, almost no work had been done. May, 1989 Bulgaria Vidim

Professor Polikarov, a biochemist, in his office in the Academy of Science. After the fall of communism, he was elected to Parliament. November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Jewish cemetery in Sofia May, 1990 Bulgaria Sofia

After Shavout service in the Sofia synagogue. May, 1989 Bulgaria Sofia

Tram November, 1988 Bulgaria Sofia

Fomer synagogue of Varna, which became a sports hall. May, 1989 Bulgaria Varna

City scene, Sofia. May, 1990 Bulgaria Sofia

Synagogue in Bulgarian town where Jews no longer live. June, 1989 Bulgaria Asenograd

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Date: March, 2001
Country: Bulgaria
City: Sofia