"Married Twice In A Lifetime"

FILM LENGTH: 10 min 40 sec
KEYWORDS: SEPHARDIC STORY, MULTIETHNIC LIFE, FORCED LABOR

We interviewed Larry Anzhel in January 2006, shortly before he passed away. As Larry spoke with us over the course of a six visits, his wife Rosa sat by his side, held his hand, and together, they painted a picture of what it was like to live in a time and a place when, as Larry said, "life had its own organic rhythm."

Larry and Rosa fell in love and were married in secret during the Second World War. Larry had actually been in a forced labor camp but managed to slip away, as did Rosa's father. After the war, most Bulgarian Jews emigrated to Israel, but Larry and Rosa remained, raised their families, and once Communism collapsed in 1989, they threw themselves into Jewish community life again.