Edeikina Ester Izraylovna (1927)

Edeikina (Jedeikina) (née Laser) Ester (Esther) Izraylovna (17 July 1927, Jelgava) — planner.

Until 1940, Ester Edeikina attended the Jewish school in Jelgava. On 27 June 1941, her parents decided to flee Jelgava with their children and relocate to Riga. As the transport was overcrowded, only Ester and her paternal aunt Zara Laser (b. 1900, Jelgava) managed to leave. Her parents, Feiga Laser (1888, Dubulty – 1941, Jelgava) and Izrail Laser (1884, Jelgava – 1941, Jelgava), remained in the city and perished in the Holocaust.

In Riga, Ester managed to locate her brothers, and the family was subsequently evacuated to Ivanovo Oblast. Later, both brothers volunteered for military service. Her brother Moisey (Mikhail) Laser (1913, Jelgava – 1942, Moscow) died of his wounds in a military hospital. Another brother, Leib Laser (1923, Jelgava – 1944, Madona District), fell heroically in the battle to liberate the village of Barkava in the Madona District.

In 1944, Ester returned to Riga. From 1945 to 1948, she worked as a cashier and accountant at the Catering Department of the Ministry of the Timber Industry of the USSR. In 1948–49, she was employed as a cashier-accountant at the Republican Office of the Culture Supply Committee. In 1950, she completed her education at Riga Evening School No. 25.

Between 1949 and 1955, she worked as a secretary-typist, technician, and head of the planning department at the artel “Record” (later incorporated into the Ministry of Construction as SU-7). In 1955, she graduated from the All-Union Correspondence Financial Institute with a degree in accounting and economics. From 1955 to 1971, she served as the head of the planning department at the Riga Specialised Finishing Works Directorate.

She married Iosif Edeikin (b. 1927, Riga), and their daughter Faina Edeikina was born in 1962 in Riga. In 1971, Esther received permission to emigrate to Israel, invited by her husband’s sister, Roslin Solomon (née Edeikina) (b. 1920, Berlin), who had emigrated to Palestine in 1939.

Iosif Edeikin (b. 1927, Riga) — husband
Faina Edeikina (b. 1962, Riga) — daughter
Feiga Laser (1888, Dubulty – 1941, Jelgava) — mother
Izrail Laser (1884, Jelgava – 1941, Jelgava) — father
Moisey (Mikhail) Laser (1913, Jelgava – 1942, Moscow) — brother
Leib Laser (1923, Jelgava – 1944, Madona District) — brother
Roslin Solomon (née Edeikina) (b. 1920, Berlin) — sister-in-law
Zara Laser (b. 1900, Jelgava) — paternal aunt