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Gentso comes from Bulgaria ; he was born in 1943 at Plovdiv and came in Greece for the first time in 1993. At the time of the interview his worked as a 'Marble worker'.
Interview date: 04/03/2006
Researcher who did the interview: Raymond Alvanos
Subfield of the interview: Historical culture
Gentso was born in Plovdiv. His father was a baker and his mother a seamstress. Gentso was a watch-maker in Bulgaria. However, he wasn´t satisfied with the money he was earning and so he decided to become a marble carver. This is his job in Greece too. He is a widower and he has three sons who live in Bulgaria. He speaks about the fact that faithful Christians were not appreciated during the communist period. However, his family believed deeply in Christianity and Gentso himself even today goes very often to church. Considering gender relations during the communist period he portrays a picture of equality between the two sexes, in contrast to the present situation. He thinks negatively of the communist regime, which he calls a dictatorship, and he talks about important aspects of life then. He describes the relations of Christians and Muslims. He underlines the lack of freedom under communism and the persecution of those who were against the regime. However, the collapse of the regime brought even bigger problems to his life; he lost his job and he had to migrate. He came to Greece for the first time in 1990 after obtaining a tourist visa. He did not stay long but he came again in 1993. He describes the difficulties during the first days in Greece, his longing for home and the isolation he felt because of language difficulties. He also talks about how he finally managed to find the job he wanted. He speaks in detail about his work, the wages, and his good relations with his employer. He has now learned Greek and has friendly relations with Greek people. However, his friends are mainly Bulgarian. He visits his country very often and has a relationship with a Bulgarian woman. He wants to get married, and in two years´ time when he will go into retirement he wants to return with his wife to their home country.
