1 00:01:21,709 --> 00:01:26,417 I was born in a small town in Poland. 2 00:01:29,042 --> 00:01:30,751 I lived in the ghetto. 3 00:01:32,792 --> 00:01:40,584 At school I always sat on the right side, because we couldn't mix. 4 00:01:42,876 --> 00:01:51,875 I loved football but I couldn't join in. They could even kill those who tried. 5 00:01:51,876 --> 00:01:56,542 You couldn't walk on the streets on the other side of town. 6 00:01:57,834 --> 00:02:03,834 We lived closed off in one environment, ignorant of the world outside. 7 00:02:05,292 --> 00:02:15,291 As a sensitive kid, I suffered a lot. I'd walk to the border and I'd ask myself: 8 00:02:16,584 --> 00:02:20,867 "My God, why do they have more rights than me 9 00:02:20,917 --> 00:02:27,242 when we were born in the same city and we speak the same language?" 10 00:02:27,292 --> 00:02:31,709 We're the same and yet he's got more rights than me. 11 00:02:32,292 --> 00:02:36,334 He can go anywhere and do anything, and I can't. 12 00:02:36,834 --> 00:02:42,584 These restrictions marked me deeply, right to this day. 13 00:02:43,709 --> 00:02:46,159 In 1940, the sculptor Frans Krajcberg lost his entire family 14 00:02:46,209 --> 00:02:49,001 during the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany. 15 00:02:56,459 --> 00:03:02,084 After the war, I really wanted to forget everything and get away from people, 16 00:03:03,667 --> 00:03:11,084 to find a place where there wasn't anyone. I imagined Brazil was like that. 17 00:03:12,417 --> 00:03:17,284 I'm going to get far away from Europe, from the war, from these people 18 00:03:17,334 --> 00:03:27,333 who think they are superior because they believe in another religion, in another race. 19 00:03:37,792 --> 00:03:38,784 A NEW BEGINNING 20 00:03:38,834 --> 00:03:40,867 There's also another side of my life. 21 00:03:40,917 --> 00:03:45,834 I was born again, and discovered life again in Brazil. 22 00:03:59,626 --> 00:04:08,458 Here, in these forests, I found that I can still survive, and that I can fight for them. 23 00:04:08,459 --> 00:04:18,458 Like my mother, who gave her life to the Marxist ideals which she passionately believed in. 24 00:04:22,501 --> 00:04:26,576 It's the most beautiful thing that exists, to give your life to an ideal. 25 00:04:26,626 --> 00:04:30,284 It's what I'm doing today and it changed everything. 26 00:04:30,334 --> 00:04:35,042 I didn't believe in life anymore. I even wanted to commit suicide. 27 00:04:40,167 --> 00:04:48,791 When I discovered this wonderful scenery, I wanted to dance with joy. 28 00:04:48,792 --> 00:04:52,742 I found a life I'd never dreamt of, 29 00:04:52,792 --> 00:05:00,534 I'd never felt life as deeply as when I discovered these forests, this flora, 30 00:05:00,584 --> 00:05:09,126 these magnificent trees, this impressive movement... it's incredible. 31 00:05:09,751 --> 00:05:12,751 LETTERS 32 00:05:13,334 --> 00:05:20,909 I receive many letters from all over the world, wherever I visit, 33 00:05:20,959 --> 00:05:27,034 or where ecology is an important issue. 34 00:05:27,084 --> 00:05:32,626 They're mainly from young people, from all over the world. 35 00:05:33,626 --> 00:05:39,959 But the letter that touched me most was from Salvador, Bahia. 36 00:05:40,417 --> 00:05:42,326 Socorro Nobre's Letter "Dear Frans 37 00:05:42,376 --> 00:05:47,376 It's a bit difficult to begin this letter to you, but I'll try. 38 00:05:49,084 --> 00:05:50,992 After reading the article about you in Veja Magazine 39 00:05:51,042 --> 00:05:54,834 I became fascinated by your way of living. 40 00:05:55,709 --> 00:05:59,167 I know you won't reply when I tell you where I am. 41 00:05:59,834 --> 00:06:02,159 I close my eyes and live in my own memories 42 00:06:02,209 --> 00:06:06,909 I see myself walking along a beach just as beautiful as yours. 43 00:06:06,959 --> 00:06:11,076 My paradise is in my imagination, but it has helped me to remain calm 44 00:06:11,126 --> 00:06:13,001 and wait for time to pass. 45 00:06:14,292 --> 00:06:18,126 We often only appreciate things after we lose them. 46 00:06:21,042 --> 00:06:26,367 Right now I'm in the Women's Prison in Salvador, but soon I'll be able 47 00:06:26,417 --> 00:06:30,701 to walk barefoot on the beach again, to see the moon, the stars, 48 00:06:30,751 --> 00:06:35,459 raise my chickens again and perhaps have a dog like Peroba. 49 00:06:36,376 --> 00:06:40,159 Now I'll introduce myself: my name is Maria do Socorro Nobre. 50 00:06:40,209 --> 00:06:45,409 I've been in jail for 4 years and 9 months. 51 00:06:45,459 --> 00:06:49,001 I was sentenced to 21 years and 4 months in prison. 52 00:06:50,292 --> 00:06:53,034 If you get to read this letter, thank you. 53 00:06:53,084 --> 00:06:55,876 With admiration and affection, Socorro Nobre. 54 00:07:57,834 --> 00:08:05,784 Look, Fransberg, as I call him, suffered enormously. 55 00:08:05,834 --> 00:08:12,742 He also lost his whole family tragically, left Europe in despair, a lost soul 56 00:08:12,792 --> 00:08:15,867 from the reports that I read. 57 00:08:15,917 --> 00:08:20,792 A person full of anguish, but he overcame it all and succeeded. 58 00:08:22,001 --> 00:08:24,951 He triumphed because he had incredible willpower. 59 00:08:25,001 --> 00:08:28,834 And today he works with something that everyone throws away. 60 00:08:29,792 --> 00:08:32,751 At times, we throw away our own lives. 61 00:08:33,917 --> 00:08:38,867 He works with calcined things, burnt timber from forests... 62 00:08:38,917 --> 00:08:40,284 "calcined" is a word, I learnt only recently, 63 00:08:40,334 --> 00:08:43,534 I didn't know this word - for 'burnt' things. 64 00:08:43,584 --> 00:08:49,326 A person that does that has to be really sensitive. 65 00:08:49,376 --> 00:08:52,492 Working with wood which is then 66 00:08:52,542 --> 00:08:56,576 transformed into a work of art. And our life here is a work of art, 67 00:08:56,626 --> 00:09:04,326 because in our daily life here we have fear, anguish, hope, and we have the desire that 68 00:09:04,376 --> 00:09:09,084 this here ends soon, and so I decided to write to him. 69 00:09:10,792 --> 00:09:14,951 The only thing he didn't lose was his freedom, but inside he must have been 70 00:09:15,001 --> 00:09:19,626 an anguished person... it's not easy losing your whole family. 71 00:09:21,001 --> 00:09:26,367 Even today I feel I was a victim of injustice. But now I'm more resigned, because I think 72 00:09:26,417 --> 00:09:31,876 that God only gives you the cross he thinks you have the strength to carry. 73 00:09:33,709 --> 00:09:40,826 I'd be born again from my mother's womb. The only thing from the past I'd want 74 00:09:40,876 --> 00:09:44,709 is my three children. As for the rest I'd change everything. 75 00:09:45,376 --> 00:09:49,376 Everything. I mean it. 76 00:09:50,667 --> 00:09:57,626 If I had a magic wand... I'd be a shoeshiner but I wouldn't be here. 77 00:09:58,792 --> 00:10:01,959 I mean it. 78 00:10:03,626 --> 00:10:05,701 I begged God to let me die. Today I no longer do. 79 00:10:05,751 --> 00:10:12,076 Today I want God to let me grow old to get all of this out of my head, 80 00:10:12,126 --> 00:10:14,326 and to begin to live again when I get out. 81 00:10:14,376 --> 00:10:17,826 As my youngest daughter says: "start living when you're old." 82 00:10:17,876 --> 00:10:22,159 So I want to start to live when I'm old. Now I say it every day, 83 00:10:22,209 --> 00:10:26,284 When I get my conditional release, it'll be like coming out of my mother's womb, 84 00:10:26,334 --> 00:10:27,751 but with good judgement. 85 00:10:28,834 --> 00:10:31,951 In Ilhéus, the prison was all made of cement, like this one. 86 00:10:32,001 --> 00:10:39,076 There was a small garden, but we had little access to it. 87 00:10:39,126 --> 00:10:43,742 So when I arrived in Itabuna, I hadn't seen grass in ages, 88 00:10:43,792 --> 00:10:46,034 I asked the guard if I could touch some. 89 00:10:46,084 --> 00:10:50,534 It was silly, because it's so common that you don't notice it. 90 00:10:50,584 --> 00:10:53,284 But when I saw it I said: "Can I just hold a bit of grass 91 00:10:53,334 --> 00:10:57,534 and walk around on it?" And he said: "Sure, go ahead.". 92 00:10:57,584 --> 00:11:01,626 And there I stayed. It was the biggest sensation in my life. 93 00:11:03,126 --> 00:11:05,867 I think one should have dreams, one has to dream, 94 00:11:05,917 --> 00:11:10,534 but you can't live in an endless world of dreams. 95 00:11:10,584 --> 00:11:14,284 Once in a while we should feel like Sleeping Beauty 96 00:11:14,334 --> 00:11:19,751 to have that one dream that will nourish you. 97 00:11:20,709 --> 00:11:22,284 It's the best meal in the world. 98 00:11:22,334 --> 00:11:24,659 Sometimes I sit here and my cell mates sit over there 99 00:11:24,709 --> 00:11:30,576 and I keep picturing this dream, of being in a place alone, 100 00:11:30,626 --> 00:11:35,367 jumping from a tree, living like they did in the Stone Age. 101 00:11:35,417 --> 00:11:40,126 Then the girls say: "wake up" and I come back to reality. 102 00:11:46,292 --> 00:11:49,459 PENITENTIARY COMPLEX 103 00:11:50,667 --> 00:11:57,542 I was 35 when I was imprisoned and I'd learnt nothing outside. 104 00:11:58,042 --> 00:12:01,576 In the 5 years and 4 months I've been here... 105 00:12:01,626 --> 00:12:04,534 I think that if I lived 100 years outside without going through this, 106 00:12:04,584 --> 00:12:06,167 I think I would never have learnt. 107 00:12:52,792 --> 00:12:57,084 I'll never forget that I loved the wrong man! 108 00:13:37,584 --> 00:13:39,959 If my dignity was short, now it has grown. 109 00:13:41,001 --> 00:13:46,951 I want to restart my life with the same dignity that I had before, 110 00:13:47,001 --> 00:13:52,534 but for you to get out of here, a place like this, with the same dignity 111 00:13:52,584 --> 00:13:54,701 that you entered, you have to have a lot of character. 112 00:13:54,751 --> 00:13:56,167 It's very difficult. 113 00:14:22,042 --> 00:14:25,167 WERE YOU HAPPY AND DIDN'T KNOW IT? 114 00:14:44,376 --> 00:14:47,626 I was sentenced to 14 years... 115 00:14:48,709 --> 00:14:50,709 OTHER LIVES 116 00:14:52,167 --> 00:14:55,501 Everything I had at home was taken. There's nothing left. 117 00:14:57,751 --> 00:15:04,451 So I have to wait for them to release me to see my boys, to see what I'll do, 118 00:15:04,501 --> 00:15:08,326 'cos when I get out of here, I'll leave with nothing. 119 00:15:08,376 --> 00:15:11,584 The work I did here won't amount to anything. 120 00:15:13,584 --> 00:15:17,917 What can I get with 100 bucks a month? Not even a pair o' shoes for my kid. 121 00:15:18,626 --> 00:15:22,292 I'm waiting for the judge and God to set me free to see my boys. 122 00:15:22,751 --> 00:15:29,409 I miss my son, my brothers, all my relatives, even those that come here. 123 00:15:29,459 --> 00:15:33,242 You miss talking to them. 124 00:15:33,292 --> 00:15:36,501 When they visit, you talk just a little, then they go. 125 00:15:37,376 --> 00:15:40,542 We really miss our families here. 126 00:15:41,417 --> 00:15:45,326 I was 82 when I got there. 127 00:15:45,376 --> 00:15:50,459 And how long are you serving? - 6 years. 128 00:15:51,834 --> 00:15:56,042 All this you see in the yard, people laughing, it's all a fantasy. 129 00:15:56,876 --> 00:15:59,251 Our reality is very different. 130 00:16:01,542 --> 00:16:04,417 I am full of indignation, 131 00:16:05,834 --> 00:16:12,701 and my indignation seeks to give people a little more awareness. 132 00:16:12,751 --> 00:16:16,784 I'm doing everything I can in my work to show my indignation, 133 00:16:16,834 --> 00:16:20,959 to get through to people, 134 00:16:22,292 --> 00:16:27,159 for them to understand that life is in everything, 135 00:16:27,209 --> 00:16:33,751 that everything on this planet has a right to survive and to exist. 136 00:17:02,834 --> 00:17:06,709 You have no milk for your puppies. 137 00:17:08,334 --> 00:17:17,417 I have to give them a bottle. Give her a kiss, that's it. 138 00:17:46,167 --> 00:17:51,367 Fransberg, as I pronounce it, lives in a paradise. 139 00:17:51,417 --> 00:17:54,492 I consider his place a paradise. 140 00:17:54,542 --> 00:18:00,626 Now, I also live in a paradise, only his is external and mine internal. 141 00:19:24,959 --> 00:19:29,242 My certainty of a new start, my certainty of getting out of here 142 00:19:29,292 --> 00:19:31,992 is as real as my own two hands, 143 00:19:32,042 --> 00:19:37,534 and as the sun rising every morning, luminous. 144 00:19:37,584 --> 00:19:44,534 The certainty of a bright new beginning through the strength that 145 00:19:44,584 --> 00:19:49,951 I have inside me is the greatest certainty of my life. 146 00:19:50,001 --> 00:19:53,792 My greatest dream is to raise myself up again. 147 00:19:54,584 --> 00:19:57,417 I think I owe this to myself. 148 00:20:04,126 --> 00:20:09,034 Maria do Socorro Nobre was sentenced to 21 years and 4 months in prison. 149 00:20:09,084 --> 00:20:12,992 At the beginning of 1995 she was given a conditional release. 150 00:20:13,042 --> 00:20:17,126 Today she lives with her 3 children in the countryside of Bahia, Brazil. 151 00:21:01,709 --> 00:21:07,659 I've done everything to forget my past, but undoubtedly it is still inside me. 152 00:21:07,709 --> 00:21:12,909 At times it reappears, at times I begin to cry, 153 00:21:12,959 --> 00:21:16,201 at times I think it's not worth carrying on, 154 00:21:16,251 --> 00:21:19,042 but life goes on.