Malgorzata Lach began young adult life with a bang: winning a Polish national pistol shooting championship at age 17 enabled her to obtain a passport and, two years later, to defect from her Soviet-controlled nation. Lach pursued freedom despite many challenges, and in part two of this story, we explore how she made the leap.
As a teen, Lach attended vocational school, worked as a shop clerk, and was a member of Poland’s professional pistol shooting team, earning more than her father did driving a delivery truck. “I received extra ration cards, too,” she said, referring to the Soviet system of obtaining goods from the government. Following her nationwide victory, Lach could have remained in Poland with better-than-average advantages by working as a professional trainer. “But I couldn’t stand the restrictions, greyness, and pollution,” said Lach. She made her move: “I told no one I was leaving. Not even my closest friends.” Around the same time, Lach’s older sister emigrated to the U.S. with her husband and child by paying off a passport official.
Prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, some European countries established refugee camps to help those escaping repressive regimes. Lach traveled to Austria in 1986 on an invitation visa secured with the help of her sister’s friend. Lach went straight to a refugee camp, where she was required to relinquish her passport. After an interview and quarantine period, Lach was issued a pass so she could pursue employment outside the camp, which allowed her to repay the debt incurred when her sister’s friend was fined after Lach reneged on the temporary visa.
“Immigrant workers are cheap labor,” said Lach. “I cleaned hotel rooms and private homes, picked grapes, and did other jobs.” While in Poland, Lach had studied English on the sly, and she took English classes in the refugee camp. She applied to an international organization that helped people in her position, choosing one that would land her in New York, since her sister lived on Long Island; Lach’s case was fast-tracked because her sister was already in the U.S. Within six weeks, Lach had an interview at the American embassy in Vienna, and within four months was on her first-ever airplane flight, landing at JFK.
“I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven,” said Lach. “The plane had 10 seats across. After we landed, my sponsor – a woman I’d never met – put me in a van with plush seats.” Lach’s sister also came to the airport and remarked, “Your English is better than mine!” Lach headed to Manhattan for a required physical exam and to get a social security card. “We drove through a tunnel, and when we emerged, I could see the Manhattan skyline at night. It was breathtaking and surreal; the sight brought me to tears.” In a hotel on Broadway, adrenaline prevented Lach from sleeping. She encountered her first flush toilet: “Polish toilets didn’t have standing water,” she explained, “so when I saw my first American toilet, I thought it was overflowing.” Within days, she was living with her sister’s family and earned $20 at a housecleaning job. “That was a lot of money,” said Lach. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Lach rented a room from her sister for five years while cleaning houses and working in a factory. “I worked five nights a week, from 11 [p.m.] to 7 [a.m.]. I’d get home from my night job and sleep for 45 minutes before going to clean houses. I slept more when I got home.” For a time, she pumped gas; later, she worked in a bakery. But Lach knew she needed to do something besides work, so she started taking guitar lessons. She also looked for other work options; after visiting refugee camp friends who’d settled in Tennessee, Lach moved to that state and got her 18-wheeler truck license. “But I’m a homebody,” said Lach. “I hated being on the road.” She moved back to Long Island, got a different factory job, and eventually worked for the US Postal Service. “I carried mail in Roslyn Heights on Long Island for nine years,” said Lach.
In her mid-30s, Lach pursued home study through Empire State College Without Walls, and in 2003, was accepted at Mount Holyoke College as an English major. “One day, I was poking around the (MHC) music department,” she said. “I began taking guitar lessons on top of going to school and working jobs in carpentry, house painting, flooring, and other trades.” Soon, she added instrument building to her skills. Working with Amherst luthier Alan Chapman, she built a guitar in 2005: “Eight hours a day for two weeks. Alan noticed I was good with chisels, details, and measurements, and encouraged me to consider doing it professionally.” As she developed her skills creating handmade classical guitars and doing repairs and set-ups, Lach turned yet another disadvantage into a plus: many luthiers spray guitars with lacquer, but since Lach didn’t have a spray booth, she opted to specialize in a traditional finishing technique called French polish, a hand-applied mixture of shellac and oils used on brand-new instruments.
Lach has carved out a beautiful life, teaching guitar lessons at her Erving home as well as at Mount Holyoke College and Falcetti’s in Springfield. She continues building instruments and has started a new side gig: building beautiful objects made of wood, which she sells at the Greenfield Farmers Market and through the Greenfield Farmers Cooperative Exchange. Lach performs music, too, and you can hear her at the Water Street Barn in Shelburne Falls on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 7 pm. Whatever Malgorzata Lach puts her hands to, the results are inspiring!
To contact her, email malgorzatalach2008@gmail.com.
Eveline MacDougall is the author of “Fiery Hope.” To contact her, email eveline@amandlachorus.org.