Krzysztof Parczewski is one of the main characters in A Ballad About Silesia during the 1980s arc, as well as a minor character in the 1990s arc. Called Krzysiek for short. He is a miner working at the “Wieczorek” coal mine, and a childhood friend of Michał Cegielnik. He lives in Giszowiec together with his wife, Łucja, and two sons – Bogdan and Adam. Michał’s unofficial right-hand man, who often accompanies the steiger. He is queer, unlabeled, but stays in a heteronormative relationship. Despite being adventure-seeking boy in the past, Krzysiek has matured and is far calmer now. Because of his powerful and bulky appearance, some think he’s scary, while the man actually is a friendly and shy individual.

Krzysiek was born as the last child of Irena Parczewska and Szczepan Parczewski, right before his father was drafted to the Wehrmacht. He has two older brothers, Richat and Jorg, and an older sister, Hajdla. At the age of 8, his mother died because of a heart attack and his oldest siblings took care of the family since. Despite being all adults now, they’re really close-knit and still care for each other. He’s a childhood friend of both Michał and Stanik, he often worries about his friends. The man has a rather… tense relationship with his younger son. He really doesn’t like the fact that Adam wants to become a rockstar, hoping his son would lead a more “normal life”. Due to his parents passing away when he was a child, Krzysiek has abandonment issues – it’s especially visible in his relationship with Michał or Łucja.

Krzysztof Parczewski was born on February 27th, 1942, as the third son and the last child of Irena Parczewska and Szczepan Parczewski; he has two older brothers (Jorg and Richat) and an older sister (Hajdla). Not long after his birth, Szczepan was drafted into the Wehrmacht and in 1944, the family got notified that Szczepan died during a battle. Since that time, it was Irena and her mother-in-law who took care of the house and the children, but the older siblings helped as much as they could, too.
Honorata, their grandmother, was always strict towards the Parczewski children. Krzysiek didn’t remember his father at all, and he knew his appearance only from the family photos.
The Parczewski family lived in a twin house in Giszowiec, and the family living in the other half was Cegielnik. The only son of the neighbors, Michał, was Krzysiek’s age so they quickly got along. The boy had a similar situation, as his father was also drafted to the Wehrmacht and never returned. Stanisław “Stanik” Mochowski, a kid younger than them by a couple of years was living on the same street. They often played together. Once they even got lost in the forest surrounding Giszowiec.
His life was seemingly normal, despite many difficulties, until Irena had a fatal heart attack in 1950, when Krzysiek was 8 years old. After that incident, the oldest brothers and their grandmother took care of the family.
Krzysiek and Michał often visited Eugeniusz “Ojgen” Myśliwski, a retired miner and an artist, who was their caretaker. Michał had better relationship with the man; Gustlik, Ojgen’s partner, was a childhood friend of Szczepan and he liked spending the time with Krzysiek, as he saw the resemblance to the friend he couldn’t even say goodbye to.
Krzysiek had a few friends in elementary school, but he loved his siblings more than anyone else in the world. Richat and Jorg taught him many things, including riding a bike or fixing the RTV equipment. He often bickered and laughed with Hajdla.
At the age of 16, Michał outed to his friend as a gay man. Krzysiek’s first reaction was confusion, but he accepted the other boy – after all, they were friends since childhood and that wouldn’t change their relationship. After turning 18, he got drafted into the army. During that time, he met Wacław Kebetz, who also lived in Giszowiec, just in a different area. Together with Michał, Krzysiek planned visiting Koln after they finish the national service. However, their dreams were ruined when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. They still hoped one day it would be possible. After that, he began working at the “Wieczorek” coal mine.
In 1966, Krzysiek met Łucja Satkiewicz, who was a new worker in the Silesian weekly “Panorama”. They both shared an interest in biking and cinematography and it was their usual conversation starter. At the time, Łucja already had a year old son, Bogdan, from her previous relationship, which ended rather quickly… While it was purely friendship at first, over time, Krzysiek developed romantic feelings towards the woman and after two years of knowing each other – they began dating. He didn’t mind her having a child before that. In March of 1968 they got married. Hajdla married a few years before her younger brother and moved to Bytom with her husband, while Jorg moved to Szopienice and Richat stayed in Giszowiec.

In 1970, Łucja and Krzysiek’s own child was born – Adam. The man was rapt and really showed affection to his newborn son, while still treating Bogdan as his own, biological child. When the apartment blocks were built, Krzysiek and his family moved in, despite the fact he was still attached to the twin house in which he grew up; however, he knew that they were more comfortable and modernized than the old houses. Both Krzysiek and Łucja often invited Michał during the Christmas or the New Year’s Eve, so he wouldn’t feel lonely.
In 1972, Gustlik died because of silicosis. Krzysiek, Michał and Stanik attended his funeral, as well as all the native Silesians who knew him and remained until that time.
After Michał became a steiger in 1975, Krzysiek became his unofficial right-hand man, always close to the man. In March of 1976, a man named Eliasz Oglęcki moved from Warsaw to Katowice with his son to work as a miner at “Wieczorek”. Krzysiek had prejudices towards the Varsovians, but quickly started talking with his new co-worker, as… Their sons were classmates, since they were the same age. Krzysiek always referred to Eliasz by his surname, which was later adapted by the other miners working with them. Even Michał began to talk with Eliasz, and together they taught the Varsovian how to play skat, a card game popular in Silesia.
As Adam’s parents didn’t want to give him more problems, they never talked to him in Silesian and taught him typically Polish traditions. Krzysiek wasn’t satisfied with that, as his hajmat was dear to him, but he knew it was for Adam’s good. Adam still used words from the Silesian language at home or when playing with his friends and even Krzysiek’s warnings could not stop the kid. The man just didn’t want his son to experience what he did – like getting hit by the teachers for not speaking Polish. But if his son didn’t want to listen to him, Adam had to learn his own way. Bogdan, on the other hand, was more cautious and diligent than his younger brother.
When Michał admitted to Krzysiek that he was in love with Eliasz, Krzysiek wasn’t surprised; as an observant person, he noticed that the man acted different in Eliasz’s presence. He began to worry when Michał and Eliasz actually did start dating, as it was illegal in the communist Poland. He still kept the secret and didn’t told anyone, as the steiger was his best friend and he would never want to do anything against him. When Michał had a quarrel with Eliasz, he always confided in his friend.
At the same time, Krzysiek had problems with his own son. Since being 14, Adam wished to start his own rock band, which didn’t make his father happy. It wasn’t only because of what lifestyle they led, but also because it meant Adam would stick out from the rest – something Krzysiek didn’t want. He wanted his family to look as average as they could. And being a rockstar could mean problems with the officials. Besides, he knew they did drugs. He often compared Adam to Bogdan, asking why he wouldn’t be more like him. This led to Krzysiek and his song having a rather… tense relationship.
Stanik and Krzysiek often visited Michał during his depressive episode after his mother died.
With time, Adam got into more and more arguments with his father, especially when he was 16 and 17, already trying to make plans for his future. Łucja often had to be the negotiator. She didn’t like how strict Krzysiek was with their child, so she often let him to do more things than her husband.
The year 1989 was the fall of communism in Poland, and Krzysiek hoped for a good, new future for the country where he lived and his homeland.

In early 1990s, together with his friend Kazik, Adam founded a new wave band called “Blind the Wind”. At first, Krzysiek didn’t support his son at all, although with time, he became softer towards his son. He still wasn’t pleased with the fact that Adam didn’t want to become a miner like him, but the career wasn’t as bad as he imagined. He still couldn’t get why his son chose “Ildek” as a stage name, though. Adam even invited his parents to their less professional concerts.
In 1998, together with Michał, Krzysiek visited Koln – it was their childhood dream. Even if they been to Germany before, they haven’t been in West Germany.
When Adam’s first child, a daughter, was born, Krzysiek and Łucja often helped with taking care of her. As Krzysiek realized how strict he was to his own son, he decided to be at least a better grandfather.
Both his brothers died between 2009 and 2018, leaving only Krzysiek and Hajdla. The man still lives with his wife in an apartment block in Giszowiec.

Despite his appearance and constantly frowning face, Krzysiek is actually a nice person. He’s quiet and doesn’t speak often, but when you get to know him, he’s a great comrade. Even if he’s rather silent, it seems like he knows almost everyone working at “Wieczorek” – all thanks to him being so observant, and not by talking. He is definitely more likeable than the steiger. He really cares about people who are close to him, he’s worried about them and wants to be always close to them, to make sure they’re okay. He’s afraid of being abandoned, and it’s all because his parents died when he was young – Szczepan died during the war, and Irena died when Krzysiek was only 8 years old. It’s visible especially in his relationship with Michał or Łucja, but with his sons or Stanik as well. He’s really close-knit with his siblings and even if they’re all adults with their own families now, they still keep in touch and meet every now and then. Krzysiek is a fan of sport, regularly works out, and since “Balkan” got decommissioned, he goes to work by the bike; as a kid, he often played soccer.

Krzysiek is a diligent and responsible man, who treats his job very seriously – he knows well how dangerous coal mining is, so he doesn’t tolerate bothering him during work at all. However, he wasn’t always like this… As a kid, he was the one getting his friends into the trouble, just as he was the one who talked Michał into smoking. He matured with time. Krzysiek is really worried about his younger son, Adam, as the boy wants to become a rockstar – the man wants him to have a normal job like him.

Krzysiek has problems with accepting changes; he was mad because of the urbanization of Giszowiec, even if he agreed to move to an apartment block. He admitted that everything has two sides and living in an apartment was more comfortable in many ways. The man complains if something happens too fast and he doesn’t have the time to adjust to it. When he’s really angry, he swears a lot and lets off his emotions, saying everything that pops into his brain. If he doesn’t like something, he says it instantly.