For Bulgarian Jews in Israel, today's date - March 10, is of special significance. On this day, 77 years ago, Bulgaria prevented the deportation of nearly 50,000 Jews to death camps in Germany and occupied Poland.

Dr. Ida Sarova-Pinhas is a living witness to the events of those troubled times during World War II, when millions of Jews were cut off in the Nazi "factories of death". She and her parents are from the "rescued Bulgarian Jews" who, instead of disappearing without a trace in the furnaces of Treblinka (a concentration camp in Hitler-occupied Poland), lay the foundations of an entire medical dynasty in Israel. Today, Dr. Ida Sarova is a neurologist with 65 years of experience as a physician, of which she has been a volunteer for 25 years in the ward of one of Israel’s elite hospitals - Sheba in Tel Aviv, headed by her daughter. When people hear about five generations of doctors in one family, they always show respect. And when it comes to doctors in Israel who never fail to stress on their Bulgarian roots, it is deeply respectful. The specialties that are "inherited" in their family are eye diseases, pediatric endocrinology and neurology. The younger members of the medical family hardly speak Bulgarian, so we learn their story from Dr. Sarova. The BNR correspondent in Israel, Fenya Dekalo, talks to her in an interview for Radio Bulgaria.

Ida's father, Dr. Sarov, graduated from medicine in Geneva and, after graduation, practiced the medical profession in Plovdiv. During World War II, he was forced to close his office and move to the Rhodope Mountain:

"In Bulgaria I studied at the French college in Plovdiv from the first grade," Dr Pinhas recalls. “But with the imposition of the anti-Jewish restrictions in 1940, I continued to study at home with my mother. When Jewish doctors were banned from practicing medicine, my father was mobilized as a village doctor. We were consecutively living in Bansko, Shiroka Luka, Kilifarevo, Gorna and Dolna Oryahovitsa and others. While we were based in Shiroka Luka my father enrolled me in the local school. I was already wearing the yellow badge and when the school inspector came once, he looked at me indignantly and asked, "What is this Jewish girl doing here?" They kicked me out. My father bought a lamb and I went with the shepherds to take it to pasture. Some time passed and another inspector came to the school, examined the school diary and asked, "Where is Ida Sarova?". They explained that they had expelled me as a Jew. However, he objected, “There is a law here and she needs to come to class." They almost imposed a penalty on my father but the mayor interceded so that the village would not remain without a doctor. After we returned to Plovdiv we went to live with my grandmother in one small room. A priest was accommodated in our house. I was going through the room and could hear him play on my piano. He played beautifully. Anyway, we stayed alive!”

After the end of the war, most of the Bulgarian Jews emigrated to Israel. Among them was the family of Dr. Sarova who discontinued her studies in Bulgaria and started her medical education from scratch in the Jewish state. After graduation, she met her husband, Dr. Pinhas, who was also born in Bulgaria. He later became a renowned professor of ophthalmology, known among patients as Prof. Riben Ahiron and founder of the department of ophthalmology at Sheba Hospital. The daughters of both doctors are also professors in the field of medicine as well as their husbands.

“My father was an internal medicine specialist. I became a neurologist. My granddaughter specializes as a neurologist in the field of multiple sclerosis. My younger daughter earned a pediatrics degree in Israel and specialized in endocrinology in Cincinnati. Upon her return, she founded the endocrinology pediatric ward for children with diabetes and growth-related conditions. One of my grandsons followed the path of my husband and is now the head of the ophthalmology ward. My second grandson earned a pediatrics degree and now studies for a second degree. Current doctors are aware of all the latest research and can check everything on their computer, but they do not forget that it is important to examine the patient, as well. In the past, we also didn't just work with one stethoscope but we also used technology.”

Dr. Sarov's eldest grandson is also a doctor and specializes in the application of artificial intelligence in medicine.

English Rossitsa Petcova