Common knowledge lets easily answer the question: “How far is Poland from Haiti?” – different language, different color of skin, different religion and the distance of 8600 km. And although last months’ events have brought some Haiti closer to the Poles, still not many people know that on the Caribbean live the descendants of Polish soldiers.
On the turn of XVIII and XIX century (1802) Napoleon Bonaparte sent a military contingent to Haiti, counting about 40 thousand soldiers, whose job was to maintain control over the colony that was overcome by the black population’s uprising. There left 3 half-brigades of Polish Legions with stabilization mission, about 6000 people in total. They hoped that helping Bonaparte, they will get help from France in the fight for independence of their own country.
Many Polish soldiers were deeply disappointed with the situation they found after arrival. It turned out that, as opposed to what they were told before launching the mission, the campaign had little to do with liberation of Haiti – their task was to suppress the activity of people fighting for their rights. Polish soldiers’ hearts, especially because of the situation of their own mother country, were closer to the ideas the Haitians fought for. The hesitations made a lot of Polish soldiers desert or even move to the revolutionists’ side. The end of fights was quickened by tropical diseases - yellow fever and malaria decimated the forces of pacification corps. Napoleon was forced to retreat with his army. Afterwards he sold the colony to the USA. In the fights in Haiti about 4 thousand Polish people were killed. Few of them came back to France, others became pirates in the Caribbean Sea.
In 1804 Haiti’s independence was officially proclaimed. Since then no white person had the ownership right to the land. The only exception of the rule were Polish allies of the insurgents. They gained the status of the island’s national heroes. In recognition of their achievements not only were they allowed to stay, but also they were given land. For many Polish people it was the only solution anyway, as they had no money to come back to Europe. 400 Polish soldiers settled in the South of Haiti. Very quickly they assimilated with the local inhabitants. Up to now Cazal, La Valee de Jackmel, Fond des Blancs, Port Salut and St. Jean du Sud are conglomerations of black descendants of Polish legionaries, not uncommonly bearing modified Polish names. And although language and traditions, as a result of permanent isolation, have sunk into oblivion, the memory of Polish heritage is still alive. Moreover, the population of these villages is said to have specific European features.
In the beginning of XX century one more event connected Polish and Haitian history. Because there constantly appeared arguments among local inhabitants on the island, the headquarters of American contingent, which was occupying the island at that time, sent sergeant Faustin Wirkus to carry out a pacification mission there. The father of Wirkus was a Polish miner, who had come to the United States to earn his living. At the news about the Polish origin of the envoy, part of the country’s inhabitants, of Polish origin, announced him the King and Savior. Wirkus cult was strengthened by the fact that one of local rulers was bearing the same first name – Faustin. As a result Wirkus was proclaimed his reincarnation and was called Faustin II. A few years later American army ordered Wirkus to come back to the USA. Although reluctantly, still he came back to New York, where he became an insurance agent. In his book “The white king Gonave” he wrote about his memories of the paradise island.
translation: Agnieszka Chmielnik
