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Bryant, Bilha Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project BILHA BRYANT Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: February 23, 1998 Copyright 2 1 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Bulgaria Immigrated to Israel - 948 Bulgarian $ews Bulgarian government Dupnitza bombed by allies )ing Boris Wartime environment Soviet invasion Communist ,outh Party $ourney to Israel .ife in Israel 948- 959 Haifa 0etting started 1in-Harrod )ibbutz environment )aiser-Fraser factory 2)aiser-Ilin3 4i5ed Administrative Commission 953- 954 0olan Heights Suez War - 957 4oshe Dyan Chaim Herzog 1nvironment 1ntered Foreign Service - 959 Israeli 1mbassy, The Hague, The Netherlands - Cultural Attach: 970- 973 Ben 0urion visit Israeli-Dutch relations Romance and marriage - 973 Washington, DC - Alien Wife of U.S. Diplomat 973- 977 1 .ouren@o 4arAues, 4ozambiAue - Spouse of FSO 977- 979 1nvironment Hostile consul general Portuguese influence Social conditions Addis Ababa, 1thiopia - Spouse of FSO 979- 972 1nvironment Israeli presence Housing American WomenCs Club Social life 1mperor Haile Selassie 4ilitary coup )arachi, Pakistan - Spouse of FSO 972- 975 1nvironment AID U.S.-Pakistan relations Soviets in Afghanistan Nationalizations Islam State Department - Spouse of FSO 975 Seoul, )orea - Spouse of FSO 2Commercial Counselor3 975- 977 U.S. Trade Center U.S. influence .ife in Seoul 1nvironment New Delhi, India - Spouse of FSO 2Commercial Counselor3 977- 98 1nvironment Ambassador 0oheen Social life Travel Indian personal traits Arrogance and accomplishments Housing Resignation of Husband, Ted 98 State Department - Soviet Bureau - Career 1mployee 98 - 983 $ewish DrefusnikE immigration Sharansky Soviet attitude 2 Travel restrictions on Soviet diplomats Secretary of State Shultz Secretary of Defense Weinberger State Department - Soviet Desk - Congressional Specialist 983- 984 Congressional correspondence Duties State Department - Congressional Relations 984- 985 Correspondence Division State Department - 1astern 1uropean Affairs - Public Affairs Officer 987- 994 Country developments Ceausescu Poland 0orbachev $im Hooper Press releases Hungary Faclav Havel Bulgaria State Department - ,ugoslavia Desk 994 Conflicts Ambassador Warren Gimmerman 4ilosevic U.S. involvement issue Atrocities Secretary of State Baker INTERVIEW $: Today is February 23, 1998. This is an interview with Bilha Bryant. It's being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. I'm Charles Stuart Kennedy, and Bilha and I are old friends. Bilha, could you tell me when and where you were born and tell us something about your family? BR,ANT: I was born in Dupnitza, a small town in the foothills of the Rila 4ountains in Tsigonian, Bulgaria, in 934. We lived there until our semi-forced immigration to Israel, four years after the Communists took over. $: Tell me about your family in Bulgaria and what you remember, because you were 1 years old, weren't you? 3 BR,ANT: ,es. But I remember Auite a bit. $: First tell me about your family, what your family was involved in. BR,ANT: 4y paternal side, Sephardim 2Spanish $ews3, had lived in Bulgaria since the e5ile from Spain. The family tried to observe $ewish traditions but knew very little about $ewish religion and did not really practice it regularly. 4y father was in a profession that was not deemed at the time I$ewish.I It involved travel to villages and farms and very close contact with peasants who were all Christians. He was a tobacco grower and e5porter. 4y maternal grandfather, whom I never knew since he died before I was born, was a miller and also dealt with Bulgarian farmers. I do remember my maternal grandmotherJ tall, slim and beautiful, and rather sad. Rumors were that she was not purely $ewish. After the death of her husband, she was obliged to move in, for periods of 7 month a year, with her two sons and their families. 4y paternal family was large and close-knit, but not very happy, with a great deal of family feuding. The e5treme hierarchy in the family touched all of us, but mostly the women. $: I ta,e it there wasn't the e-uivalent of . I may be mispronouncing this . a shtetl . in Bulgaria, a Jewish enclave, a small village or something li,e that? BR,ANT: Bulgarian $ews were assimilated into the society and did not stand out as $ews. They didnKt speak ,iddish or go to the synagogue, e5cept for the High Holy Days. 4y own father had a lot of Christian friends from all levels of society. It was not the same sort of $ewish community you saw in Poland or the Ukraine. The old generation spoke .adino, an ancient form of Spanish from the 4th-century when Lueen Isabella kicked the $ews out of Spain. The separation was mainly economic: poor people lived across the river and very few 2before Communism3 were able to Icross the bridge.I We visited the house I grew up in Dupnitza. We left Bulgaria in November K48 and, as I said, left everything behind. And now, 50 years later, there they were: the same sofa, the same table and chairs, everything as we left it. The family that had taken over the house continued to live there all these years. It was so eerie. $: How about schooling? BR,ANT: $ewish children had to attend segregated $ewish elementary schools. .ooking back I am not sure why, since we were not taught anything very $ewish, such as the Old Testament or Hebrew and when we reached middle school, $ews and Christians attended the same schools and got along fine. $: 1ou say you left there when, about '23 or so? BR,ANT: No, we actually left in November of K48. 4 $: 4ell then, what about Bulgaria during the war years, because Bulgaria was an ally of the 5ermans, of the Na7is, and of course, everyone ,nows what the Na7is were doing to /ews? Did this impact on Bulgaria? BR,ANT: Comparatively speaking, Bulgarian $ews were very lucky. The combination of the reluctance of Tzar 2)ing3 Boris to allow our deportation, and practically a miracle, saved the Bulgarian $ews from the fate of the rest of the $ews in 1urope. $: 4hat about your father8s business? BR,ANT: According to the new Nazi law - The .aw for the Defense of the Nation- $ews were not allowed to own rural property, own or manage a commercial firm, so on. And this is what happened to my fatherKs business. It was taken over by his Christian partner with no compensation whatsoever. $: 4hat type of government was there in Bulgaria then? BR,ANT: It was, of course, a monarchy with a pro-Nazi, Fascist government. I donKt really remember who the Prime 4inister was at the time, but I know that he was closely allied with the Nazis and followed their policies. A new law reAuired that all $ews register, declare all their properties and possessions, and deposit all their money in blocked bank accounts. We were also made to take $ewish names. For e5ample, in my case, I was known as Bili 4osheva but had to delete the IvaI and become Bili 4oshe. This law also prohibited $ews from voting, holding public office, employing non-$ewish domestic help, a curfew between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., and the most devastating of all, all $ewish men between the ages of 20 to 40 were sent to army labor camps. The same fascist government also agreed to allow the 0ermans to use Bulgarian railroads to deport $ews from 4acedonia, 0reece, and ,ugoslavia. Dupnitza was on a main railway from 4acedonia and I will never forget the cries for help coming from the bo5 cars, always in the middle of the night. We knew they were being sent to concentration camps, but we never imagined what was happening in the camps. Apparently, Hitler was becoming very angry with the )ing for refusing to follow with his policy on the D$ewish solutionE and for resisting to send Bulgarian forces into 0reece. He wanted an urgent face-to-face meeting. The day after the )ing returned from 0ermany, he fell ill and died a few days later of undetermined causes. Rumors were that he had been poisoned. I remember watching the train carrying the )ingKs body for burial in the Rila 4onastery passing through Dupnitza. Thousands of people were lining the tracks, crying. $ews were crying not only for their protector but also for the fate that will befall them after his death. $: Do you remember when that happened? BR,ANT: I am not sure. I think in the summer of 943. 5 $: And then what happened? BR,ANT: Things become worse for us. The Fascist government supported by the )ingCs brother, Cyril, could now freely deport the Sofia $ews to the provincial towns where they had relatives so that they could stay with them and not disrupt the housing market. We seemed to have Auite a few relatives who lived in Sofia, because our modest house became a home to about 30 relatives. A family occupied every room in the house, including the living rooms and we all shared three kitchens. Despite the horrible conditions, the lack of food, and the fear of the future, I clearly remember the love and kindness that prevailed in the house, especially towards us children. As it happened, the evacuation spared the $ews from Sofia from the horrific bombing by the British, which caused a great deal of damage and many casualties in the capital. But then, one beautiful summer day in Dupnitza, something terrible happenedJ I remember being on our small balcony with my brother and cousins watching the British planes pass over the town 2not for the first time3, Ijust like silver birds.I We yelled at the top of our voices IPlease come and save us, we love you,I and then we saw tens of bombs coming down on Dupnitza.
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