Frank Shooster
Dora Shooster
THE SHTETL
on different years. With the help of a genealogist, we found the manifest record of her crossing. It says she was 18. Her tapes say she was 17 while dating in America. She most likey was 16 upon arrival to America. Ten years after she arrived in America (1921), the national boundaries of Tuchyn changed again, this time from tsarist, Russia back to democrat- ic, Poland. Then, suddenly, in September of 1939, the Soviets took over, prompted by Nazi Germa- ny’s invasion of Western Poland. Prior to the invasion the Nazis and Russians created a treaty agreeing to divide Poland. Russia took the eastern half, including Tuchyn. In 1940, the Nazis double- crossed the Soviets, attacked Russia, and little Tuchyn was overrun by Nazis, spelling disaster for the Jews who lived there. Most of the Jews fled ahead of the Nazi occu- pation. Of those who remained about 3,000 were immediately killed and the rest placed in a ghetto. That ghetto swelled to thousands. They suffered with little food and overcrowding until 1942 when Tuchyn was liquidated, killing its remain- ing Jewish inhabitants. A few survived, including Dora’s stepbrother and some sister’s. During the slaughter of Tuchyn, it is record- ed that the Jews fought back feebly. It is notable that they were able to fight at all. They had little firepower to sustain a battle. By the war’s end, the Soviets reclaimed the region, and only 150 Jews returned. After the war, the Jewish population increased, and eventually, they left in a mass exodus to Isra- el. The old people stayed and eventually passed away. By 1992, the Ukraine was established, and no living Jews were left in Tuchyn.
Dora Shooster, born Dobe Chumot, came from the small town of Tuchyn, located near the Horyn River in what today is the Western Ukraine. It is located within the district of Volyn, in the region of Volhynia, approximately 24 km NE of the city of Rivne. To the Jews, small villages like Tuchyn were called shtetls. This entire region was subject to shifting national borders. At the time Dora was born, her hometown was part of tsarist, Russia. When the Jews settled there, it was Poland. Jews became Russian after the territory was conquered. Once they became Russian they were limited in where they could travel. The area they were allowed to travel in was called the Pale of Settlement. They were not allowed to leave to the west or go deeper into Russia. Life was hard, food was meager. When Dora was a child, her mother, Hinda Kelemacher (1870-1896), died. About a week later, her oldest brother also died. He was buried in the same grave. Her father, Mikel(1897-1936?), married his wife’s sister, Devorah ‘Dobe’(1865?- 1942), against her will, a common custom. Due to Dobe’s resentment of a forced marriage, Dora and her younger brother, Benjamin (Boruch), were treated harshly. This led them to seek better lives elsewhere. They were not alone. From 1880 to 1924 two million Jews migrated to America from Europe. On multiple occasions, Dora asked her father if she could leave. He said unequivocally, “No.” Eventually, he acquiesced after intense persistence. She arrived in the USA between the ages of 15-18. It is hard to be sure since she may have adjusted the records. We have notes that place her birthday
17
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