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13346: Polish Troops in Haiti, GenDobry Vol 3 No 9
From: FAPHOBOKEN@aol.com
Dear Maggie
In 1973 or 74. I visited a friend in Haiti. He introduced me to Kurt
Fischer. the Austrian Counsel to Puerto Rico and Haiti. He had an office
in Port a Prince. I believe that he also represented the East German
Government. In addition, he represented Polish interests in Haiti. This
assignment was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It may have encompassed a
longer time frame.. Kurt owned a curio / souvenir store on Calle Cristo in
San Juan aptly named Fischer's.
In his office, in Port-a-Prince he had a large volume in the Polish language.
He told me that he represented Polish interests in Haiti. I am not sure
what his title was in respect to this job or if he were remunierated for
this representation. Or what the relationship to Warsaw may have been.
After a short conversation about Poland he excused himself for an
appointment. I thought that I would be able to get back to our conversation.
Unfortunately this was never to happen.
One of the points that Kurt talked about was that about 5,000 Polish Hessians
were hired to fight the rebels. At that time Haiti was the biggest money
maker in the New World. Perhaps the IBM of its time. So it was appropriate
that this Cash Cow be brought back to the fold.
Napoleon had just received Louisiana in a war with Spain a few months before.
I believe that he had held the Louisiana Territory for only three months
before he "flipped" it to the US to get needed funds to hire his Polish
Troops. As a side note, Jefferson,. it appears, had already informed
Napoleon that he was going to take Louisiana so it was appropriate that some
funds be salvaged from this "spoils of war".
As Kurt had explained to me, the Pols saw that this appeared to be an
impossible war and many of them deserted. As a result, they could not go
back to Poland, even after Napoleon was deposed. They were still deserters.
So many of them brought families to Haiti.
I had looked through the Port-a-Prince Telephone Book, (an extremely thin
volume in 1974, the switchboard on the Island closed down at 11PM) but could
find not a single Polish name. I was interested in finding out what had
happened to these Polish people.
Discussion web site:
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/misctopic/ethnic/poles.htm
Francis A. Przygoda
222 Garden Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201 420 7557
Dear Maggie
Regarding your website noted in GenDobry:
http://www.geocities.com/von56.geo/PolesinHaiti2.html
vondoering@aol.com
e-mail not responding
In 1973 or 74. I visited a friend in Haiti. He introduced me to Kurt Fischer. the Austrian Counsel to Puerto Rico and Haiti. He had an office in Port a Prince. I believe that he also represented the East German Government. In addition, he represented Polish interests in Haiti. This assignment was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It may have encompassed a longer time frame.. Kurt owned a curio / souvenir store on Calle Cristo in San Juan aptly named Fischer's.
In his office, in Port-a-Prince he had a large volume in the Polish language. He told me that he represented Polish interests in Haiti. I am not sure what his title was in respect to this job or if he were remunierated for this representation. Or what the relationship to Warsaw may have been.
After a short conversation about Poland he excused himself for an appointment. I thought that I would be able to get back to our conversation. Unfortunately this was never to happen.
One of the points that Kurt talked about was that about 5,000 Polish Hessians were hired to fight the rebels. At that time Haiti was the biggest money maker in the New World. Perhaps the IBM of its time. So it was appropriate that this Cash Cow be brought back to the fold.
Napoleon had just received Louisiana in a war with Spain a few months before. I believe that he had held the Louisiana Territory for only three months before he "flipped" it to the US to get needed funds to hire his Polish Troops. As a side note, Jefferson,. it appears, had already informed Napoleon that he was going to take Louisiana so it was appropriate that some funds be salvaged from this "spoils of war".
As Kurt had explained to me, the Pols saw that this appeared to be an impossible war and many of them deserted. As a result, they could not go back to Poland, even after Napoleon was deposed. They were still deserters. So many of them brought families to Haiti.
I had looked through the Port-a-Prince Telephone Book, (an extremely thin volume in 1974, the switchboard on the Island closed down at 11PM) but could find not a single Polish name. I was interested in finding out what had happened to these Polish people.
Discussion web site:
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/misctopic/ethnic/poles.htm
Poland's Caribbean Tragedy
by Jan Pachonski, Reuel K. Wilaon, Reuel K. Wilson (Photographer), 1986
Available on Amazon.Com
List Price: $63.00
Our Price: $63.00
Francis A. Przygoda
222 Garden Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201 420 7557