FAMILY NAME
Łutsk was a hub of merchant activity, earn- ing a reputation for tailoring, shoe-making, and fur dressing. This is where our surname comes from. Naming children as we do today with the last name of the father was not the case in the old country. Instead, they switched every other child to have the surname of the father’s on the firstborn and then the mother’s on the next. Coupled with the language differ- ences including Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Yiddish, German and French, the history of our family becomes jumbled in obscurity. Within a few years of Frank Shooster Sr. leaving, World War I exploded on the scene, and tzarist Russia threw off the yoke of its monarchy to become the Soviet nation and a communist state. Meanwhile, the Germans were leaning towards a fascist - racist ideol- ogy. A political powder keg was brewing on both sides of democratic Poland. [Yiddish Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek] Before these nations collided, Łutsk had a resurgence of liberal policies. In 1921, it replaced tzarist Russian ideology with Polish democracy. To give you an idea of what this meant, a Jewish man from Łutsk, Lazarz Dal, was elected to The Polish Sejm (congress), and held one of the highest offices in the national government. [Jewishgen.com] A progressive town, Łutsk boasted its own Jewish newspaper, The Voliner Press. It was written in Yiddish. BLITZKRIEG! Blitzkrieg! Sept. 1, 1939. A Nazi mechanized army crosses the Polish border in an over- whelming show of force. Aug. 23, 1939, 1 week prior, Germany completed a non-aggression pact with the Soviets. Sept. 17th, 1939, the Soviets attacked East- ern Poland in a defensive move to counter the German’s and the Second Republic of Poland falls. In a twist of fate, 22,000 Polish soldiers, horse-bound, headed into Russia for safety
Synagogue of Lutsk Commemorative Plaque
Unknown with Frank Shooster Lutsk, Russia 1910?
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