Marko Anzhel with his wife Dora Anzhel and his son Nisim Anzhel

Marko Anzhel with his wife Dora Anzhel and his son Nisim Anzhel

In this photo is my brother Marko with his wife Dora and his son Nisim in their own grocery store in Israel. There is an inscription on the back in pen: 'As a souvenir to our beloved Leon Anzhel's family from M. Anzhel. 6th December 1964. Israel.' There is no stamp of a photo shop. Marko immigrated with his family in 1948. I have three older brothers from my father's first wife, whose name was Yafa. Their names are Isak, Hiskia and Marko. My mother was my father's second wife and her name was Yafa too. When I was born, my oldest brother Isak had already left for his studies abroad, I don't know where. Hiskia [Harry] didn't live with us either, I don't know why, probably he was studying or working, too. Only the third son, Marko, was living with the family. He was born in 1906, which means he was fifteen when I was born. My mother treated us the same. My father died in 1932 when I was eleven years old. After dad's death our family became very poor and we decided to move to Sofia. My two brothers - Isak and Hiskia - had already settled in Sofia. We rented the attic rooms of a massive apartment house on 21 'Kiril i Metodii' street - between 'Bratya Miladinovi' and 'Hristo Botev' streets. My two brothers were already working. They had their own deli shop and a little later they bought a winery. They covered some of our expenses but that was insufficient and I found myself forced to work after school. My brother Marko used to live with us, too, until 1942 or 1943, until the internment during the Holocaust.
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