InfoPersons, originating from Poland
León Bilak Peritz
Born: 1903? in Guatemala Died: date unknown, in Guatemala
León Bilak was a descendant of the first Polish family that settled permanently in Guatemala at the end of the 19th century. The Bilaks came from the Kępno region of Wielkopolska. They were his grandparents and his father, who was 13 at the time. They came to Guatemala together with several Polish families from Kępno and its surroundings, including León Bilak's mother. The Bilaks did well in their new country since they could afford to send their son to study in Germany, where he stayed in 1912-20.
After returning to Guatemala, Leon Bilak worked in the editorial office of "El Impercial" magazine. He was passionate about philately and stamp production from an early age. He became the greatest, most famous philatelist of his country. He considered himself a Pole saying: ‘although I wasn't born in Poland, I feel Polish, a Pole from Greater Poland’. He is one of the first philatelists to be immortalized on a postage stamp, a Guatemalan postage stamp.
In 1973 Leon Bilak came to Poland for the World Philatelic Exhibition Polska-73 held in Poznan. In his three showcases he presented the history of the creation of the stamp. He came to the exhibition as an official representative of Guatemalan President Carlos Osorio and the Congress and the Post Office of his country.
Source: Polacy w Ameryce Centralnej by Marian Kałuski
Notice:
Persons of Polish descent, who were neither born in Poland, nor lived there, are not included in the category of polonica in this catalogue. An exception is made for Leon Bilak, because he felt very connected to Poland and was an enthusiastic philatelist. Moreover, a picture of a philatelist on a stamp is very rare.
Polonica stamps:
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Guatemala 1971, 12 VII |
