Surnames Wasyliw (Wasyliv) or Sulyma, Ivano-Frankivsk area

[gemifier]

Hi, I'm in the UK I've started researching my family history and I'm hoping someone here might be able to help. My maternal grandparents both originated from the Ukraine and came to the UK after WW2.

My Grandmother, Liza Wasyliw (or Wasyliv), originated from Dolyna and was born in 1922. She had 7 brothers and sisters, although I believe only herself and a sister were still alive when WW2 broke out. I'm told that she was taken as a worker to Germany and ended up in Dusseldorf.

My Grandfather, Taras Sulyma, orginated from Kalush and was born in 1921. I think he had a step-brother (possibly named Antoni), and that his father was a cobbler (possibly named Andre). He was in the polish army and when the war broke out he ended up in Holland and fought with the British and Canadians. At some point he too ended up in Dusseldorf and after the war ended both he and my Grandmother came to the UK.

I'd love to trace my ancestors in either area, so if anyone can help get me started, or provide background information, I would very much appreciate it. If anyone can provide some information about what either area was like pre-WW2 I'd be very interested too.

[tea76]

Hi gemifer Irene and hannia are really helpful so give them time to read this! Im also trying to get to no more about our family history my grandfather is in the uk after ww2 and he was taken pow at rimini. his name is peter wasyliw born 1924 in the kalush area and are trying to find his sister!
your welcome to look on my thread as it has some intresting things and keep in touch

Tina

[IreneLviv]

Dolyna and Kalush( I will be going through both of them next week) are now villages but large towns.
Sulyma and Vasyliv names are quite common -dozens of them.
Vital records from 1922 are kept in district registry offices and are unavailable. The only way is to send out inquires to all Vasyliv and Sulyma families and wait for their response .
(I once spent nearly 2 years sending out about a hundred inquires but at long last I was a success)

[Hannia]

Do you have any documents confirming EXACT PLACES OF BIRTH?

Were Grandparents from a village or a town? As Irene has indicated above, Dolyna was/is the District Center Town, in the Dolynskij (Dolyna) raion/district of Ivano-Frankivska oblast/region. There are appx 40+ villages within the Dolyna district. Immigrants frequently referred to their district center as place of origin for geographic reference, because their own villages were small. Same applies to Kalush. It too is a district Center Town. There are also many villages within this district.

If not , consider contacting the Bad Arolsen Archives. Germans kept excellent records of everyone that set foot there during WW2. These archives will provide you w/Grandparents' exact experience in Germany and their exact places of birth. Inquiry by immediate family is available for free. All you need to provide is Grandparents's full names and any other spelling variants and their exact birth date. Your inquiry can be done by e-mail. I understand the archives have upgraded their svce and response can be received via e-mail as well. Response can take as much as three months. That part has not changed.

Access site below and click HUMANITARIAN REQUESTS. Follow instructions.
ITS-AROLSEN.ORG |*Homepage

PS> Wasyliw would be equivalent to Williamson/Williams in English, and need I tell you how common that surname is?

[Hannia]

Many villagers have moved to the urban centers for economic reasons.

These are individuals w/Sulima/Sulyma surname currently residing in Ivano-Frankivsk, the regional center city:

31531 Сулима С Я Республіканська вул. д.0
33749 Сулима М Я Шевченка Т. вул. д.43
40067 Сулима Д О Василіянок вул. д.0
42562 Сулима О Д Берегова вул. д.0
44592 Сулима О М Берегова вул. д.32
46277 Сулима Я Д Вороного М. вул. д.13
46479 Сулима В Я Довга вул. д.47
49571 Сулима Г Р Василіянок вул. д.68
69870 Сулима I В Миколайчука І. вул. д.13
282820 Сулима Н М Галицька вул. д.136

These are Wasyliw residing in the same city:

32183 Василiв Б В Пушкіна вул. д.94
33273 Василiв М В Тудора С. вул. д.2
42121 Василiв I В Набережна вул. д.8
49188 Василiв Н З Галицька вул. д.147
49671 Василiв М О Макогона вул. д.0
61146 Василiв I Й Героїв УПА вул. д.2
63294 Василiв Я О Хмельницького Б. вул. д.82
64172 Василiв Д В Оборонна вул. д.16
66429 Василiв Л В Стуса В. вул. д.13
68173 Василiв Г М Коломийська вул. д.47
68586 Василiв Б О Молодіжна вул. д.54
94523 Василiв I М Вербова вул. д.24
281575 Василiв С Ю Галицька вул. д.130

And you thought your surnames were so unusual.

It is critical to your research to ascertain exact place of birth for both Grandparents.

[gemifier]

Thank you all very much for your replies

At the moment I don't know specific town/village names, but I'll try to find out.

It's really interesting to find out that there are many families of those surnames in those areas, I hadn't realised that they were quite so common!

[Hannia]

Makes one feel less alone, doesn't it ?