Bianca Lloyd (born Bianca Sztejn, 1923-2011) was the daughter of Maks (Max) and Zofia Sztejn. She was born on May 27, 1923 in Bialystok, Poland where Maks was a banker and also in the import-export business with his brother Abrasha. Her brother Jakob was born in 1928. Bianca had planned to continue her studies after her graduation in the French Academy of Arts. However, when the war broke out in September 1939, her plans changed and instead, she and her family decided to flee.
On December 4, 1939 with the help of a professional guide, Bianca left with her father's younger brother Abrasha. Maks followed a few weeks later, and Zofia and Jakob tried to flee but were stopped at the border and sent back. They crossed successfully on January 1 partly because the guards were celebrating the New Year and not paying much any attention. Bianca's grandmother was caught at the border and sent back. She was never able to rejoin them.
Maks supported the family in Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania) with the money he brought with him and the support of an uncle in Philadelphia while exploring various ways to emigrate from Eastern Europe. His sister in France sent them French visas, and they began to make arrangements to go there via Sweden. After the German invasion of Norway cut off the route, and the family sought other ways to leave Lithuania.
In the summer of 1940 they heard on the street that visas to Curacao were available in Kovno (Kaunas, Lithuania). Maks went to Kovno and first obtained Curacao visas and then received ones issued by Japanese diplomat Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara on August 2, 1940. The family also received a Palestine immigration visas. They arrived in Kobe, Japan in the fall of 1940, and stayed there for a few months before traveling to Bombay (Mumbai, India) via Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, Sri Lanka on the strength of their Palestine visas. After the family stayed in Bombay for eight months based they obtained American visas on May 1, 1941. They then started on a 42-day trek to the United States via South Africa and Trinidad arriving in New York on June 11, 1941.
Maks' brother also tried to flee Europe on Sugihara visas. He traveled with sister Helana Sztejn Zilberfenig, her husband Judel Zilberfenig and son Icchok. Shortly before arriving in Vladivostok, Soviet police took them off of the train and arrested them as capitalists. They were sent to a Siberian labor camp in Chita where they survived the war. Most of the rest of the Sztejn family perished during the Holocaust.
