Dear Alice, 

Picture 1 Shimon Shuster who perished in the holocaust in Birzai with his brother who survived.

Picture 2 from the wedding of Batia nee Shuster and her husband ? They both perished in Birzai
From Yad Vashem;

1.  Moshe Volf Shuster. He was married to Ester. Prior to WWII he lived in Birz, Lithuania. During the war he was in Birz, Lithuania.

Moshe volf was murdered in the Shoah.

This information is based on a Page of Testimony  submitted in 1999 by his daughter-in-law, Tzila Shuster Zilbergleit of Herzelia, Israel. , a Shoah survivor
2. Ester brakha Shuster. She was a saleswoman and married to Moshe. Prior to WWII she lived in Birzhay, Lithuania. During the war she was in Birzhay, Lithuania.

Ester brakha was murdered in the Shoah.

This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed here) submitted by her daughter-in-law, Tzila Shuster Zilbergleit
3, Meir Shuster was born in Lithuania to Moshe and Brakha. He was married. Prior to WWII he lived in Birzai, Lithuania. During the war he was in Birzai, Lithuania.

Meir was murdered in the Shoah.

This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed here) submitted by his sister-in-law, Tzila Tzirel Shuster Zilbergleit
4. Shimshon Shuster was born in Lithuania to Moshe and Brakha. He was a tailors apprentice. Prior to WWII he lived in Birzai, Lithuania. During the war he was in Birzai, Lithuania .Shimshon was murdered in the Shoah .This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by his sister-in-law, Tzila Tzirel Shuster Zilberglei
5. Batia Baske  khaia Surname unknown nee Shuster was born in Lithuania to Moshe and Brakha. Prior to WWII she lived in Birzai, Lithuania. During the war she was in Lithuania.

Batia khaia was murdered in the Shoah.

This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by her sister-in-law, Tzila Tzirel Shuster Zilbergleit
 

On Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 8:11 PM  <amhell@comcast.> wrote:
Dear Eliat- My name is Alice Heller. My husband’s family is from Birzai Lithuania. We know that his grandmother, Mary Shuster, and 2 aunts, Leah and Ada, did not survive. We would like to find out any additional details that are available.

__________

BIRZAI—BIRZE LITHUANIA

Birzai is located in North-Eastern Lithuania. It is situated at the confluence of the Apascia and Agluona Rivers. The history of the town is connected with the aristocratic Radvila [Radwill] family, which kept house in Birzai from the beginning of the 16th century. In 1935 the Jewish population of Birzai was 3500 people nearly 50% of town population.. Jews have been living in the town for many centuries.

My Grandfther Michael. Sandler lived in no 7 Aper Shosh Gatwa in Birzai. Next to his house was the prayer house of the Shoemakers- the Shul of the Sandlers-Shusters.
He was the Shamash [see photo] When my wife and I visited Birzai [1997] we found that the street names had been changed and that the Russians had built badly built three story housing. At that spot there is a shed that looks identical to the building of this Shul except that the roof had been changed. Most of the families who lived in Aper Shosh Gatwa were Shusters –Susters or Sanslers. We did not find the Jewish cemetry but we found a Memorial Stone on the outskirts of Birzai in a small forest [see photo]. It is written in Yiddish and says that here lie the bodies of 2400 Jews and 90 Lithuanians that were killed by the Germans on the 8/8/1941. According to my Uncle Abe his father Michael told him that the Family have been in Birzai since the 17th century.

David and Dina Sandler-Shuster and most of their children were killed in the 1881 pogrom. Three sons---Lazar---Michael--- and Labe survived . They were brought up in an orphanage. Their descendants left Birzai and settled all over the world mainly to South Africa but also in the USA . Scotland, Brazil and Israel. Recently I received a list from the National Archives in Vilna --5 pages of records of the Shuster-Sandler
from 1816 to 1924. A serious question would be- are we related? Probably Possibly?
My Grandfathers Grandfather Meier [Meyer] probably had brothers and cousins
My Grandfathers father David probably had brothers and cousins.
Did Lazar, Michael, Labe have cousins? I exclude the many sisters and female relations who probably took the name on their husbands.

Yehuda Shuster also came from Birzai. A descendant of his, Leon Sandler from Bulowayo told his daughters Maureen and Becky that they were distandly related to our family. My Uncle Abe Sandler who is 92 and lives in Cape Town told me that if we are related it would be distant. Andy Shooman a descendant of Yehuda told me that the family prayed in the shul.of the Shoemakers.
Another posible branch could be the family of Maisha Leib Sandler whose children settled in the Transvaal South Africa.
Isser Joseph Sandler was born in Birzai. Later the family settled in the USA.
Debbie Rappaport who came from the USA and lives in Safed Israel. Her Grandmother was a Sandler from Birzai.
Until proven otherwise most of these families make up the Sandler, Shuster, Shusterus, and Shooman family tree. My appeal to most of my relatives were positively received and I required most of the needed information. However there are missing links. A tree has a beginning but has no end so if anyone has any information
names, dates, events please forward the info to me. I have one wish –that when I am gone that either a grandchild or some one else will preserve and continue the tree
Basil Baruch Sandler Nathanya Israel April 2001.