Pune Kolev, the Benefactor of Slivnitsa, Sofia region

To remember • To preserve • To pass on

"The most valuable thing we can leave to the next generations is the memory of our family and the deeds of our ancestors." (Pune Kolev, the Benefactor)

1. First edition of the book in 2013: "The Family of Pune Kolev, the Benefactor of Slivnitsa, Sofia region". The book was a gift to the members of the family, so that they remember and preserve.

2. A second, expanded edition of the book "Pune Kolev, the Benefactor of Slivnitsa, Sofia region!" (without family tables) has been printed in three print runs since 2019.

More than 1,500 books have been given to young people and residents, mainly from the Sofia region, as an example of preserving ancestral memory. The remaining approximately 1,000 copies are intended for distribution in order to raise funds for the causes of the Foundation.

I grew up with my grandfather Lozan's stories about the history of our family, about reverence for God, about traditions and the keeping of ancestral memory. After he passed away in 2000, he left behind the belongings of Dedo Pune and above all books connected with Slivnitsa and the Serbo-Bulgarian War, family photographs, letters, title deeds for the purchase of the estates from Emin Bey, a writ of execution from Battenberg to Emin Bey, and some objects that had belonged to his firstborn son Lozan Paunov and to his sons Grigor and Rangel Lozanovi. Among the things bequeathed by grandfather Lozan there was also a Bible printed in 1885 in New York. On its blank pages my ancestors had written down important names and events from the time of their participation in the Balkan War and the Inter-Allied War.

In 2009, under unclear circumstances, the Bible disappeared together with the notes. That was when I realised that there is knowledge which will be lost forever if it is not written down on paper. This was also the reason why I wanted to gather in one place everything, written and unwritten, connected with the family and the history of the settlement. Unfortunately I did not have enough time to devote to such a work. Then, unexpectedly, in 2009 a very close friend through an old godparent bond, Aleksandar Iliev from the well known Slivnitsa family Kenini, brought Dr Dimitar Kolev to our home and introduced him with the words: "The doctor has already done genealogical research for many families in the district, go on, talk to him, you may come to an understanding." Then, together with my father Grigor Lozanov Grigorov, we told him the story of Dedo Pune. I saw the spark in the doctor's eyes and felt that this was the man thanks to whom the story of the family of Dedo Pune would see the light of day. All the more so since Dr Kolev and I turned out to be relatives through Slavena Mitova Getova of the Dovorichintsi family from the village of Opitsvet, the wife of Dedo Pune's firstborn son, Lozanko Paunov.

With great dedication, over a period of three years, he travelled through villages and small towns to track down written and unwritten records about more than 400 direct descendants and as many again related to them. I will describe his work in his own words: "We stuck our heads into the thorns and let come what may. We searched for the kin of Pune and Bosilka in municipal and church registers of births, marriages and deaths, in the state archive and in the municipalities. They are preserved from 1893 onwards (a good thing they kept them). For some of the dead we searched all the cemeteries. Some of the family helped willingly, others reluctantly, and a few did not give us the death certificates, marriage and birth records they kept at all. Some monuments we read in the evening with a torch or photographed with a flash camera. We dragged ourselves through the villages where there are descendants, on foot, by bus, by minibus and by car. Only by plane did we not search for them. Sure, it is another thing to get into the free world encyclopaedia Wikipedia, but there was only an entry about Pune there, and a mistaken one at that. As for those abroad: the information about them comes from their kin here. We tried to get something out of the civil registration records. Nothing useful came of it. From what we saw it turned out that with the civil registry records you can work yourself to the bone and still not build a family tree. You cannot even work out and connect a woman, whom she is married to, the man or his brothers, or her father in law. For the men it is even more tangled and difficult."

When I saw that my idea had a real chance of coming true, I invited the other co-authors, Mara Karapetrova (aunt Mara) and Father Georgi, to contribute to the book with their memories and their family history. Father Georgi provided us with materials and documents about the benefaction of Pune Kolev, as well as the written testimonies of the priest Dimitar pop Yanakiev and the history of the church. Mara Karapetrova, with the assistance of Asya Kovacheva, helped enormously with the proofreading and editing of the first edition. I also received support from Vanya Krasteva from the village of Petarch, a descendant of Militsa Paunova Koleva, from Ivan Kuzundzhiyski and Georgi Yovkov, descendants of Dimitar Paunov Kolev, as well as from my father Grigor Lozanov and Iliya Balabanov, descendants of Lozanko Paunov Kolev.

After the book came out, the citizens of Slivnitsa and the municipality of Slivnitsa showed their gratitude to Dedo Pune with a series of events. In 2014 he was posthumously awarded the title "Honorary Citizen of Slivnitsa". In 2018 the municipality of Slivnitsa established an award named after Dedo Pune for Donor of the Year.

Today I have a new mission: if it is God's will, to help with the restoration of the first lower secondary school in Slivnitsa, built in 1900 through the benefaction of Pune Kolev. I feel this task just as I did back when the Bible was stolen, as if someone gave a sign that what "was bequeathed by our forefathers" must be preserved.

And everyone who wishes to and feels part of this cause, let them write to me. I am looking for like minded people.

Stoilka, descendant · Excerpt from the book