Alex Russakovsky's great grandfather, Meir Rabinovich-Shocher lived in Mir. His children were born in Mir. His daughter Sonya was Alex's grandmother. Sonya left Mir for Kharkov, Ukraine, at the onset of WWI and became a doctor. Her sister Sima joined her in Kharkov later and worked at a pharmacy. Both Sonya and Sima used the last name Rabinovich as adults.

Sima and Sonya had a sister Eva (b. 1889) and brothers Sheima (b. 1895) and Shahna (1891-1958). Shahna aka Alexander moved to Moscow where he is buried. (see tombstone below)

Meir Rabinovich-Shocher
Sonya/Sjeuna Rabinovich-Shocher (1897, Mir - 1984, Kharkov Ukraine)	Sima/Sheindl Rabinovich-Shocher (1901, Mir - 1980, Kharkov Ukraine)
Tombstone of Shahna/AlexanderRabinovich-Shocher in Moscow, Russia

You can read about Alex's research into this family on a Russian-language genealogy forum j-roots.

If you have any information about the Rabinovich-Shocher family from Mir and their relatives,
contact Alex.

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Alex provided several links to articles detailing the variations of the last name Shocher/Shachor/Czarny/Chorny/Schwartz/Black

1. On the page https://pages.uoregon.edu/rkimble/Mirweb/GoldsteinMemoirs.html

One of the town's biggest families was the Shachor(6) family, and their sons were known as the Shachorim, i. e., the blacks (they may have been called this sarcastically, since the family had produced many important scholars). They were joined by other families: the Ginzburgs, the Horowitzs and others, and thus the town was divided into two opposing clans: the blacks and the whites.

2. Some years ago, Hadassah Lipsius researched her ancestors connection to Mir and detailed it. https://www.litvaksig.org/information-and-tools/online-journal/the-charney-family-of-mir-belarus
Among other things, it demonstrates the relationship between the last names Czarny/Shachor/Schwartz which all mean Black.

3. The following exchange https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/topic/charny_mir/70291812 touches the subject of Shachor/Czarny/Chornyy/Schwartz/Black

Created August 2024/ Updated January 2026

Former residents of Mir