Zapach dolarów

Zapach dolarów (The scent of dollars) is the work of a Polish re-emigrant: the author emigrated from Poland to the US in the 1980s for work and later returned to Poland. In the book, he presents fictionalized stories of Poles traveling to and from the USA, told from the perspective of a resident of a rural village in the Podhale region. The result is a series of short stories about the fate of Polish emigrants from various waves—from the mass economic migration from Austrian partition (Galicja) at the turn of the twentieth century to the most recent times. What connects these stories are the familial or social ties between the characters and the author. We read about his ancestors traveling by ship from Austro-Hungarian Galicja, economic migrants from interwar Poland, soldiers and displaced persons from the World War II and post–World War II period, and numerous portraits of people from the Polish People's Republic (PRL). A recurring theme is the fascination with America, which drives people to embark on journeys, even if they fear it, lack the means, or leave their families behind in Poland.The entire first part, nearly half of the book, is devoted to these motivations, which the author had been learning about since his early childhood spent in the PRL. Along the way, he paints a picture of life under communist rule, with all its poverty, the drabness of daily life, corruption, and a sense of helplessness. He reminds the reader that obtaining a Polish passport and an American visa was not an automatic process and describes the various strategies Poles used to overcome the obstacles set by Polish or American officials—from simple bribes to more sophisticated methods, such as employers inflating salaries on work certificates to convince American consulate officers that the applicant would have enough motivation to return to Poland. Another strategy that worked with Polish officials was the promise of sending an invitation to the USA for their children—the allure of America captivated even the regime supporters. Some situations are clearly exaggerated, although the author assures that the stories in the book are based on real events, with embellishments added solely to improve the narrative.The depiction of the lives of the Polish diaspora in the US, presented in the second part of the book, is also exaggerated grossly. It reflects narratives common in the Polish press of the 1980s: with all the hardships of the work undertaken with the purpose of earning the mythical dollars, honestly or dishonestly, with the stories of sharing beds with other emigrants, living in basements, mangling the Polish language, and of the so-called Chicago marriages (i.e., extramarital affairs between Polish emigrants). The author views the patriotic endeavors of the political émigrés of the World War II period with some detachment, but he lacks such distance when addressing the racial prejudices within the Polish American community that he seems to share.The third part of the book deals with returns to Poland—both brief visits, after which emigrants would return to the US because they couldn't adapt to conditions in Poland (poverty, chaos, lack of politeness in social interactions), and permanent returns, which often led to bitterness and alienation from the local community when it turned out the re-emigrant no longer fit into their former social circle, including their own family left behind in Poland.It was the description of these almost always unsuccessful returns that made me realize that, despite the diversity and complexity of the migration stories presented in the book, the overall portrayal of emigration from Poland to the US is very pessimistic. The titular “scent of dollars” is a force that destroys human relationships and ruins the lives of emigrants. Suffering and loss are always linked to the journey to the US—the absence of a husband and father in the upbringing of children who first love him but then gradually grow indifferent; a distant relative or neighbor who was supposed to send money but kept it for themselves. People lose their health, vital strength, virtue, and dignity. None of the stories is one of success with a happy ending. Even the person who moved with their entire family and found happiness in the US died prematurely of a heart attack. Others who emigrated and never returned—that is, who presumably “made it” in America—left behind homes, built with dollars, in their home village. The sight of the empty houses evokes in the author feelings of nostalgia, pessimism, and abandonment. He himself did return and built a house with the money he earned on a construction site in Chicago.The book, therefore, portrays emigration from Poland to the US as an almost irreversible loss: once someone leaves, they are doomed, whether they stay in the US or eventually return to Poland. Tomczyk has also authored a number of other books where he expresses his admiration for and attachment to the area where he settled down in Poland upon returning from the US. He is apparently keen on justifying his life choices.Stories similar to the ones presented in Zapach dolarów are not new in Polish literature, from the poignant narrative of a Polish exile of the nineteenth century in Henryk Sienkiewicz's Latarnik to the novels from the late twentieth century by Zofia Mierzyńska and Edward Redliński.1 Traumatic experiences of migrants also attracted attention of journalists and scholars. Research on nostalgia of the first-generation migrants has been conducted by, among others, historians, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and specialists in literary and cultural studies.2 Danuta Mostwin's surveys, however, revealed a “silent majority” of Polish migrants who enjoyed their lives in the United States but did not happen to share their positive emotions in contrast to a complaining minority whose negative emotions and sensational stories tended to shape the prevailing image of the new members of American Polonia.3 It is only relatively recently that more positive stories about Polish experiences in the US have found their way into the Polish book market. Ewa Winnicka's essays on the Polish Greenpoint and on the Polish Texans are good examples.4 There are also critical but humorous, often even absurd, sketches—for instance, Cousin Józef by Adam Lizakowski or the novel E-migration by “Malcolm XD.”5Zapach dolarów does not belong to any of these categories.