Bilander family correspondence

Celia (Cerka) and Morris Bilander relocated from Łódź, Poland to the United States at the turn of the century, where their oldest daughter Ann was born in 1906. In 1910, they returned to Poland, and had Helena (Halina, later Kellner, b. 1909), Regina (b. 1911), Herman, Henry (b. 1916), Leo and Jack (identical twins born in 1919), and Esther (b. 1921). Esther died in Łódź of heart disease in 1934. Ann, who had American citizenship from birth, returned to American in 1926 and began sponsoring other family members. Her father joined her in the mid-1920s, and Herman, Henry, Leo and Jack immigrated in 1936. Finally Celia and Bluma followed in 1938-1939. Helena and Regina, who by then were married and had children, remained in Łódź. The family lost touch with Helena and Regina following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and never discovered their fates. Leo Bilander served as a Private 1st class member of the 253rd Engineering Corp under General Patton during WWII; his platoon guarded Herman Goering after his capture in 1945.