Zdzisław Pisarski – a different Pole
Thanks to the kindness of General Consul of Poland in Curitiba, Marek Makowski, and his wife, I get to know another Pole living in Curitiba – Zdzisław Pisarski. A very remarkable and compelling person. He has invited me to come to his cottage house on Sunday. It is situated several kilometres away from the city. He bought this large, twenty-two hectares estate from Brazilian Buddhists, who ran a meditation centre and school there. The ambience of the place remains unusual, you can still sense the spirits of the former owners. Among tall trees growing on the hills, there are a few buildings. Some of them have the specific Buddhist’s ornaments and fountains. The new landlord gradually changes the character of the place. Step by step, he manages the land at his own discretion and as a former sportsman, he adds here many investments related to this field of life. Recently, he has built a new football pitch, horse stable, walking paths, and a swimming-pool. He built it on a warm day, when one of his friends said he had no place to take a bath. Since that time, the pool became a popular attraction to the guests visiting his property.
You can spend your time in a nice, varied and active way here. Some guests choose to ride a horse, visiting the closest hills and forests. Others try riding the ATV vehicles. If some guests are afraid to ride a horse, they are offered a horse-drawn carriage tours. Zdzisław takes care that everyone who comes to visit his property leaves satisfied, full of food and various drinks. The feast is very rich and to provide the proper service, he hires two older couples, marriages, who normally work in his company in Curitiba. They do their best to make all guests pleased with the visit. There is also a big animal husbandry, including pigs, boars, goats and sheep, and all the meat products, whether smoked or grilled, that are served during the feasts are made of the animals kept and raised there. The landlord paid a special attention, so that every guest tries a bit of all the prepared dishes. Because of his second profession as a baker, various breads and cakes were served. The drinks included juices from fresh fuits and alcoholic drinks, such as whisky, cachace, boska, caipirinha, wine and beer.
When the heat of sun got unbearable, everyone sought refuge in the pool. It was a good opportunity to chat, I listened carefully to all the fascinating stories the landlord told us. What I heard could serve as an interesting basis to screenplay. One life and so many adventures, inexplicable acts of fate and unexpected changes. His luck and destiny varies from those that I saw and heard of other Poles in Brazil. It cannot be compared. So far, I have heard of exile for agricultural, political or economic purposes and this is a completely different story. At the turn of 40s and 50s of 20th century the temporary authorities of Brazil spread among the Poles the view of a wonderful life and economic possibilities in the new, “reborn” socialist Poland. They said it was worth going back to the country of their ancestors and help in restoring the country after the war, and then she would be rewarded with good, wealthy life. In this way over one hundred of Polish families living in Southern Brazil were deceived. Zdzisław Pisarski met one of the young Polish-Brazilian migrant women in Poland. At that time, Zdzisław was a well-known boxer and the representative of Gwardia Wrocław club. In light-heavyweight he won the second place in Polish championships. He was surpassed by the famous Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, later an Olympic medallist. Zdzisław was appointed to national team by the legendary coach, Felix “Papa” Stamm.
They got married, but the bad living conditions in socialist Poland were unbearable for his wife and family, so they moved back to Brazil. Zdzisław could not leave with them, as he did not receive his passport from the authorities. Only in 1962 he got permission to leave the country. In addition, he was allowed to buy 7 USD and equipped in this huge amount of money, he set off to Brazil. The cruise on M/S “Sienkiewicz” lasted over three weeks. He led a very economical life on the ship and spent only 2 USD. Before arriving to Rio de Janeiro he was very optimistic. He thought that the 5 USD he had left would allow him to get to his family in Curitiba, but his expectations and hopes were quickly dispelled. Nobody was waiting for him and he did not know the language. The two cities are very distant from each other, situated 800 km apart. This is how fate played with him, but he never gave up. He decided to do that what he was good at. In the port, he accosted a powerful black man, who offered him a boxing fight. In a few days time he organized 3 fistfights for him. All of his opponents were taller, stronger and heavier, but as Zdzisław was determined to see his family again, he fought for his further life and won all 3 combats. He was rewarded with 100 USD and could finally move towards Curitiba, where his family stayed. As a frugal and thrifty man, he set off hitchhiking. The road was long, winding and complicated. When driving a lorry they had an accident and big, heavy wooden piles fell off. Zdzisław, as a strongman, was helpful in removing the obstacles from the way. This is how he got to know the Yugoslavian man, who offered to pay him for his solid work. He, however, refused to accept the money. Thanks to this, he found a job in the mill. He was full of anxiety, not because of hard work, but because he did not know Portuguese. Luckily, he found a way to communicate with his Yugoslavian boss. He sign a contract for 90 days of work. Every day, the Pole earned respect and popularity. Within time, he became one of the several bosses in the mill. He also memorized what his boss once told him, that it is always worth working in food industry, making such basic products as bread. There no crisis exists, people will always buy baker’s goods, even during recession, epidemic diseases, natural disasters or wars.
This philosophy has been a base to his life. He still works in this branch. He is the owner of two mills, which produce flour of wheat and rye. He laughs that those are small mills, one produces 90 tons of flour and the other 20. He also owns a bakery chain in Curitiba and he controls the entire bakery industry in this region.
The boxer’s life has not been always so easy. Many years ago during the audit in the Pole’s company, one of the officials was very impolite and rude. His nerves were strained to the breaking point. He burst out when the official offended one of his daughters. Zdzisław punched him on the face. After the hit, he lost his consciousness and did not get up for a long time. This incident forced Zdzisław to move out to a place, where no one would easily find him. The choice in Brazil was wide. The first thought was to move to a distant and sparsely populated Amazon rainforest and he immediately headed there. He stayed in a safe place for over 2 years. As he hated doing nothing, he quickly took another job. He, along with 4 other friends, founded a company specialised in searching for gold. They hired local, poor people with no chances for other jobs. Thousands of gold-diggers spent long hours searching for this special metal. Usually, the job was not efficient, but Zdzisław, who must have been born under a lucky star, found hundreds kilograms of gold. One day, without a warning, he again moved to Curitiba. His family and close friends were very surprised, especially that he came back wiser, with greater experience and money.
Today he is 72, but despite his age, he is perfectly fine. Everyone who does not know his date of birth gives him 10-15 years less. People are impressed by his athletic looks, lively step, and joy of life and kindness. He is the proof that thanks to eagerness, enthusiasm and, the most important, the will of hard work, you can achieve success. Normally, he lives in Curitiba, in a big apartment with a pool. He is also the owner of two other apartments located on the beach over the Atlantic Ocean, and of the already mentioned estate. He has four children: two daughters and two sons. Both daughters are married and live in Sao Paulo. One of the sons, whom I met on the Sunday meeting, Marco, aged 40, helps his father in maintaining the farm. He is responsible for financial and accountant matters. He has a Bolivian wife and 19 year-old son. Marco tries to speak Polish, but he finds it difficult, as he has no need to use it in everyday life. He enrolled on the Polish Philology course at the Federal University. He hopes to use this language soon, as he and his father are about to visit Poland.
Lately, he frequently visits his homeland and meets with his siblings. The sisters still live in Lower Silesia, in Bolesławiec. During one of his recent visits, they went together to Ukraine, to his home town Buchach, near Lviv. For the whole family it was a dramatic experience to go back to the place where they were born, raised and played together. Apart from joyful memories, all the nightmares and grief came back. When this strong and brave man tells us about it, his eyes are filled with tears and I get creeps.
He was born in 1940 in a village near Lviv. He was the youngest of the four children. During the occupation, his parents helped the Jews to hide. They were blackmailed by local Ukrainians, who wanted to force them to pay the tribute, but the parents did not give in. Unfortunately, the neighbours reported on them to the Germans, saying they are hiding around 20 Jews. It resulted with an execution of the father, which was carried out in front of his wife and children. This image stayed in Zdzisław’s head for the whole life. Somewhere deep in his heart he bears grudge agains Germans and, especially Ukrainians.
After the war, the orphaned family was moved to the regained lands and stayed in Bolesławiec. There, Zdzisław went to school and after graduating he was called up for military service in Szczecin. Then, he moved to Wrocław, where here continued his boxer’s career in the Gwardia club.
Zdzisław and Marco show me around the main building. There are several guest bedrooms, where the adherents of Buddhism studied its secrets in the past. Today, the rooms are empty and unused, and the landlord keeps inviting people.
“Please, come to stay with us for a longer period, you will be given a place to sleep. As you can see, we have plenty of spare rooms. Bring your wife, children and grandsons. All of you are welcomed. It would be a pity to leave this house uninhabited. You could stay here and if you get bored, you can go to the Ocean and then to Curitiba.”
Photo © Jarosław Fischbach