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Lea Edelstein - Immigrant Stories
Léa Edelstein was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1929 to Naftula (Nathan)and Golda Davidson, who were Jewish. Léa was the middle child of five daughters, and grew up in a comfortable home in Alexandria during the 1930s and 1940s. The family felt well-accepted as Jews until Israel was recognized as a state by the United Nations in 1948. The family immigrated to the United States in 1949, where Léa found work as a secretary, first in Philadelphia, and later in Chicago. She married WW II veteran SIdney Edelstein in 1952, and the couple made their home in Skokie, Illinois.
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Photos
Caption
Golda and Naftula/Nathan Davidson, Léa’s parents, on their wedding day in Egypt.
Where:
Egypt
When:
Unknown
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Golda and Naftula/Nathan Davidson, Léa’s parents, on their wedding day in Egypt.
Where:
Egypt
When:
Unknown
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Naftula/Nathan Davidson, Léa’s father, taken on April 20, 1921 in Jerusalem.
Where:
Jerusalem
When:
April 20, 1921
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
The Davidson family portrait, taken while they lived in Jerusalem, Palestine in the early 1930s. Naftula/Nathan Davidson (father), Golda Davidson (mother), Lydia Davidson (sister), Devorah Peritsky (grandmother), Léa, and Sarah Davidson (sister).
Where:
Jerusalem, Palestine
When:
Early 1930's
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
The Davidsons gathered for this family portrait in the 1930s, while they lived in Alexandria. From left to right are Fatima (the family’s servant), Naftula and Golda, and in front, sisters Léa, Sarah, and Lydia.
Where:
Alexandria
When:
1930s
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Sisters Fanne and Léa Davidson were on their way to school in Alexandria, Egypt in the late 1930s.
Where:
Alexandria, Egypt
When:
late 1930s
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Léa enjoyed a day of ice skating in Alexandria, Egypt in 1942.
Where:
Alexandria, Egypt
When:
1942
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Léa and Golda Davidson, Léa’s mother, on a Alexandria rooftop in 1943.
Where:
Alexandria, Egypt
When:
1943
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
The family gathered for a rooftop photo in Alexandria in 1944. From left to right: Moshe Weinberger (brother-in-law), Lydia Weinberger (sister), Naftula (father), Léa, Golda (mother), Gisele (sister), Fanne (sister), Sarah (sister) and Sarah’s boyfriend.
Where:
Alexandria, Egypt
When:
1944
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
A typical street scene in Alexandria, Egypt during the war years of the 1940s.
Where:
Alexandria, Egypt
When:
1940's
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
During World War II Naftula/Nathan Davidson, Léa’s father, and a soldier enjoy some lemonade purchased from an Arab peddler in Alexandria, Egypt. The city had a large military presence during the war.
Where:
Alexandria, Egypt
When:
1940's
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
The interior of Léa Davidson 1949 passport, issued by the Egyptian government.
Where:
Egypt
When:
1949
Ownership:
This image is considered to be in the public domain.
Caption
This photo was used for Léa Davidson’s passport when she immigrated to the United States in 1949.
Where:
Unknown
When:
1949
Ownership:
This image is considered to be in the public domain.
Caption
The extended Davidson family gathered for this photo in Philadelphia, PA in the mid-1950s. Fanne (sister) and Maury Weinberg, Sarah Filerman (sister) with Francyn (niece), Golda with Ricky Filerman (nephew), Mort Filerman, Lydia Weinberger (sister), and in front, Nathan Davidson, Herbie Filerman, Gisele Davidson, and Cecile Weinberger (niece).
Where:
Philadelphia, PA
When:
mid-1950s
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Sidney Edelstein, Léa’s husband, and a wounded World War II veteran, prays the traditional Jewish Mourner’s Kaddish for fallen soldiers at a cemetery in Aachen, West Germany (the city where Sidney was wounded), in the 1970s.
Where:
Aachen, West Germany
When:
1970's
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo