My independent research tracing my Jewish-German lineage through my great grandmother, Minnie Schuster, recently led me to Sohren in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis. After living in Germany for four years, I finally am confident enough with my German skills to once and for all solve the mysteries of this line.
Confirming my suspicions, I found a distant cousin who salvaged a postcard from her mother's trash in the 1980s and held onto it for all these years. I have shared both sides of the postcard in my photo album (I'm not sure how else to share it in a thread on Geni). In the postcard, my great grandmother's niece, Minna, circles a house on the front and writes, "Uncle Loesers House."
With Sohren finally confirmed, I called the Ortsgemeinde and spoke with their office. He informed me of a Mr. Kopp, the town historian. I spoke with Mr. Kopp, giving him only the name Schuster and asking him for more info. He identified that the family was Jewish, and he identified that there was a house (the one in the postcard) that is still standing.
Mr. Kopp is now in the process of uncovering the history of the Schuster family (and other family members). He has a receipt from July 22, 1919 for a piece of furniture sold at a furniture store called Schuster, implying that the family was involved in furniture making.
I hope my research can help jump start other Jewish families searches that are connected to Sohren. I notice that this thread is not that popular -- there must not be very many of us, or at least not many of us actively looking. But I will continue the search and add here when I have significant updates.
-Marc
