Sergeant of the Marine Corps, who became the king of the Haitian island. Isn't it a plot for an adventure novel? But this is by no means an artistic fiction. The events that will be discussed below really took place in the first half of the twentieth century, and their main character was an American soldier.
From Poland to Haiti via Pennsylvania
When on November 16, 1896, in the small town of Rypin on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, a boy named Faustin Virkus was born, his parents could hardly guess that he would be destined to enter the world history as king of the Haitian island. Perhaps, if the Virkus family had lived in Poland, then her younger son would have only read about Haiti in books on geography. But, when Faustin was still very young, his parents emigrated to the United States of America. Then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, from overpopulated and poor Poland, where it was difficult to find a job, many young and not so people left for the USA, Canada, even Australia - in search of a better life. The Virkus couple were no exception. They settled in Dupont, Pennsylvania. Since the family of Polish emigrants was not rich, from the age of 11 Faustin, who was now called Faustin in English, had to earn a living on his own. He got a job sorting coal - hard and dirty work. Perhaps this is what predetermined his future fate. At the age of 12, a teenager Faustin Vircus met an American Marine soldier who served outside the United States and talked a lot about sea voyages. After that, the boy did not leave the dream - to become a marine himself. But since Faustin was still very small for the service, he continued to work in the coal mine. By the way, this work tempered him both physically and mentally - just what a future Marine needs.
- battleship "USS Tennessee".
In February 1915, eighteen-year-old Faustin Vircus, without even warning his parents, went to the recruiting station and achieved his dream - he was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. During these years, the Marines were the main instrument of American influence over the nearby Caribbean countries. From time to time, the Marines had to go on combat missions to the countries of Central America and the Caribbean islands - in order to provide protection for pro-American or overthrow of anti-American regimes, suppress riots, suppress the uprisings of local residents dissatisfied with the merciless exploitation. However, the combat missions of the Marine Corps could be called a stretch - after all, well-armed and trained American marines were opposed, in extreme cases, by local weak armed formations, with practically no training and with outdated weapons. Basically, the marines performed police functions - they guarded buildings, patrolled the streets, and detained opposition activists. In the summer of 1915, Marine Faustin Virkus was taken to Haiti on the battleship USS Tennessee, along with other colleagues.
The reason for the landing of American troops in Haiti was the mass riots of the country's population, which erupted after another rise in prices and the deterioration of the already deplorable economic and social situation of the country's inhabitants. Haiti is the first sovereign state in Latin America to proclaim political independence from France on January 1, 1804. The overwhelming majority of Haiti's population has always been Negroes - the descendants of African slaves who were exported to the Caribbean from West Africa, from the territory of modern Benin and Togo. There was still a small stratum of mulattoes who differed from the blacks, first of all, by their higher education and better economic situation. Indeed, in the colonial era, French planters were entrusted with mulattos to perform the functions of managers, petty clerks and overseers on plantations. The confrontation between mulattoes and blacks is characteristic of the entire period of postcolonial Haitian history. By the beginning of the twentieth century. Haiti was an extremely politically unstable and absolutely impoverished state. Arbitrariness of the authorities, corruption, banditry, endless riots and military coups, exploitation of the island's resources by American companies - all these negative phenomena were the hallmark of the state. From time to time, the people tried to rebel against especially hated rulers, however, unlike the Spanish-speaking countries of Central and South America, popular uprisings in Haiti never led to the establishment of more or less fair political regimes. Perhaps this was based on the specificity of the Haitian mentality - the descendants of African slaves were illiterate or semi-literate and very dependent on belief in mysticism, miracles, in the supernatural capabilities of their leaders. In fact, Haiti is Africa in America.
American occupation of Haiti
Haiti's political history after independence has been characterized by constant struggles between the mulatto minority, which nevertheless possessed significant financial and organizational resources, and the negro majority, dissatisfied with the exploitation by the mulattoes. The fact is that before the proclamation of independence, all power in the colony of San Domingo belonged to the white colonists - the French and the Spaniards. Mulattos were in secondary positions. They were forbidden to wear swords, to enter into marriage with whites, but they enjoyed personal freedom and could own private property, including real estate and land. By the beginning of the 19th century, at least a third of all plantations and a quarter of all African slaves of San Domingo were in the hands of the rich mulattoes. At the same time, the mulattos as slave owners were even more cruel than whites, since they did not bother to assimilate the philosophical theories of the Enlightenment, which were popular at that time, and were very superficial about the dogmas of the Christian religion. The mulattoes themselves were divided into several categories. The Mustiffs were closest to the whites - those in whose veins only 1/8 of African blood flowed (that is, whose great-grandfather or great-grandmother were Negroes). Next came the Quarterons - Africans by ¼, the Mulats - by the African by half, the griffs - by the Africans by ¾ and the marabou - by the Africans by 7/8. Below the mulattoes on the social ladder of Haitian society were free blacks. Although there were a number of plantation owners and managers among the freed blacks, they were mainly engaged in crafts and trade in the cities of the colony. Another category of the Haitian population was the descendants of the Maroons - escaped slaves who took refuge in the inland regions of the island and set up their settlements there, periodically raiding plantations in order to loot and seize food and weapons. The most famous leader of the Maroons was Makandal, a Guinean slave by birth who succeeded for seven years, from 1751 to 1758. make armed raids on plantations and cities. Makandal practiced voodoo cults and advocated the complete destruction of all whites and mulattoes on the island. The victims of the activities of Makandal and his associates were 6 thousand people, mainly European planters, administrators and members of their families. Only in 1758 did the French colonial troops manage to capture and execute Makandal. The confrontation between mulattoes and blacks continued even after a century and a half after the suppression of the Maronian uprisings. Periodically, the Negro majority rebelled against the mulatto elite, often populist politicians who sought to enlist the support of the Negro majority and played on the mutual hostility of the two groups of the Haitian population played on this confrontation. Second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries for Haiti - a continuous series of coups, uprisings and changes of governments and presidents. It should be noted that after Jean Pierre Boyer, who was overthrown in 1843, the country was ruled exclusively by blacks, but this did not mean a complete displacement of mulatto businessmen and planters from the real influence on the political life of Haiti. The mulattoes retained their influence under the rule of the Negro presidents, moreover, some of the latter were real puppets of the mulatto elite and were installed specifically to calm the discontent of the Negro majority of the republic's population.
- American soldiers in Haiti. 1915 g.
The massive impoverishment of the population led to the fact that on January 27, 1914, then Haitian President Michel Orestes resigned, and riots broke out throughout the country. A detachment of American marines landed on the island, which captured the Central Bank of the country and took from there the entire gold reserve of the state. On February 8, 1914, Emmanuel Orest Zamor became President of Haiti, but he soon resigned. In February 1915, General Jean Villebrun Guillaume San became the new head of state, focused on the further subordination of Haiti to the interests of the United States. However, the people met San's presidency with new unrest and the head of state fled to the territory of the French embassy, where he hoped to find refuge from raging compatriots. On July 27, 170 political prisoners were executed in the prison of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The response of the population was the storming of the French embassy, as a result of which the Haitians managed to capture President General San and drag him out to the square, where the head of state was stoned to death. While the Haitians staged riots in the streets of their capital, US President Woodrow Wilson decided to launch an armed invasion of the republic in order to protect the interests of American companies and American citizens. On July 28, 1915, a detachment of 330 US Marines landed in Haiti. Among them was the hero of our article, Private Faustin Virkus. In August 1915, Philip Südr Dartigenave was elected President of Haiti on direct instructions from the United States. He disbanded the Haitian armed forces, and the United States of America assumed responsibility for the country's defense. The US Marine Corps stationed in Port-au-Prince performed police functions and participated in patrolling the streets of the Haitian capital and arresting dissidents. From time to time, the government of Syudr Dartigenawa, with the support of the American contingent, had to suppress small riots that broke out every now and then in different parts of Haiti.
Faustin Vircus, who served in Port-au-Prince and was just patrolling the streets, became interested in the history of this exotic country for him, Haiti. Most of all, the young marine was interested in the island of Gonave. This is one of the small Caribbean islands not far from the island of Haiti, which was part of the Republic of Haiti. Unlike the neighboring island of Tortuga, Gonave is an inhabited island and currently is home to about 100,000 Haitians. The periphery of the Haitian Republic, the island of Gonave, to an even greater extent retained the Afro-Caribbean flavor. In particular, the voodoo cult was very widespread here. Faustin Virkus, who was trying to figure out what constitutes voodoo, filed a report for transfer to the island of Gonave, but he was unlucky - shortly after filing the report, he broke his arm and in November 1916 he was sent to the United States for treatment. When Vircus's health returned to normal, he continued his service - but in Cuba. There he again broke his arm and again went to the United States for treatment at the naval hospital. In 1919 Faustin Vircus, who by this time had been promoted to sergeant, was again transferred to Haiti. The young sergeant was appointed commander of the Haitian Gendarmerie, which also included American Marines. This detachment was stationed in Perodin district and was responsible for maintaining public order and suppressing the demonstrations of local residents. Among his subordinates, Virkus earned respect for his courage and ability to shoot accurately. By this time, on the account of the sergeant, there were many killed rebels and criminals.
In 1919, riots broke out again in Haiti. They were associated with the adoption a year earlier of the new constitution of the Haitian Republic, according to which foreign companies and citizens received the right to own real estate and land plots in Haiti, and the possibility of the presence of American troops in the country was legislated. Dissatisfied with the new constitution, Haitian nationalists revolted, led by an officer of the disbanded Haitian army, Charlemagne Peralt. Soon the army under the command of Peralta reached the number of 40 thousand people. The Dartigenawa government was unable to cope with the insurgents without attracting additional forces in the form of American marines. In October 1919, Charlemagne Peralt's troops surrounded Port-au-Prince and attempted to overthrow President Dartigenave. The American marines had to act, which, with the support of the Haitian gendarmerie, defeated the rebels. Charlemagne Peralte was captured and executed. However, clashes with the rebels continued after his death. Throughout the year, the gendarmerie and US Marines swept the countryside to identify insurgents and sympathizers. In the process of fighting the insurgents, 13 thousand people died and only by the new 1920 the insurgency in Haiti was finally suppressed. The American occupation authorities made every possible effort to suppress the insurgency and eradicate national liberation ideas in Haiti. The occupation regime was greatly irritated by the popularity of the voodoo cults, whose followers constituted the bulk of the rebels. The Americans considered voodooism a destructive and dangerous cult, which can only be fought by repressive means.
Voodoo - African cults in the Caribbean
Here it is necessary to tell what is Haitian voodooism. First, the voodoo cult in Haiti is just a regional variety of Afro-Caribbean cults, rooted in the traditional belief system of the peoples of the West African coast. Until now, voodoo is practiced by the African peoples Ewe (live in the south and east of Ghana and in the south and center of Togo), Kabye, Mina and Fon (South and Central Tog and Benin), Yoruba (Southwest Nigeria). It was representatives of these peoples who were most often captured by slave traders on the coast, and then transported to the islands of the Caribbean. The territory of modern Benin and Togo before the ban on the slave trade was known to Europeans as the Slave Coast. One of the centers of the slave trade was the city of Ouidah (Vida), which today is part of the state of Benin. In 1680, the Portuguese built a trading post and a fortress in Ouidah, but then abandoned them. Only in 1721, forty years later, the Portuguese again restored the fort, which was named "Sant Joan Baptista de Ajuda" - "Fort of St. John the Baptist in Ajuda." The Portuguese fort became the center of the slave trade on the Slave Coast. Moreover, the key role in the slave trade was played by the Africans themselves - local leaders organized raids deep into Dahomey, where they captured slaves and resold them to the Portuguese. The latter, in turn, transported live goods across the Atlantic - to the islands of the Caribbean. In addition to the Portuguese, French, Dutch and British slave traders operated on the Slave Coast. By the way, it is Ouidah that is today the center of voodoo worship on the territory of modern Benin. The voodoo cult penetrated the islands of the Caribbean along with its carriers - slaves captured on the Slave Coast. It is the Haitian variation of the voodoo cult that has received the greatest fame in the world and is considered the most orthodox branch of the cult. In Haiti, the cult of voodoo was formed in the 18th century, as a result of the fusion of African voodoo, brought by black slaves, with Catholicism. After the proclamation of independence, Haiti found itself virtually isolated from European cultural influence - after all, the white minority hastily left the island, new European merchants, planters and missionaries practically did not appear on the island, as a result of which the cultural life of Haiti developed independently.
- voodoo in Haiti
Haitian voodooism combined African and Christian components, while most of the voodooists formally remained in the flock of the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, back in 1860, Haiti proclaimed Catholicism as the state religion. It is significant that in the cult of voodoo, Christian components play a secondary role. Followers of the cult worship “loa” - deities of Dahomey origin, communication with whom is considered in voodooism as the goal of a person in the process of gaining inner harmony. Loa help people in exchange for sacrifices. Another category revered in voodoo is "hun" - ancestral spirits and deities originating from the region of the Moon Mountains at the junction of the borders of Uganda and Rwanda. Voodoo cults are very difficult for the uninitiated. Voodoo adepts are subdivided into Ungans - priests and laity. The laity, in turn, are divided into neophytes and "canzo" - initiated into the sacraments. The most common in voodoo sacrifice of roosters, cock's blood is used for rituals. There are rumors about human sacrifices, but they are not confirmed by religious scholars, although it is also impossible to exclude the possibility of such sacrifices, especially in Africa or in remote areas of Haiti. Voodoo rituals take place in hunforas, large sheltered huts that house altars with voodoo and Christian symbols. In the center of the hut there is a “mitan” - a pillar considered to be the “road of the gods”, along which “loa” descend to people during the service. The very cult ceremony consists in feeding "loa" - the sacrifice of various animals. "Loa" allegedly infiltrates a voodooist who has fallen into a trance state, after which the priest asks the latter all sorts of questions. The services are held to the music of ritual drums. According to voodooists, man has two souls, two natures. The first - the "big good angel" - lies at the heart of the intellectual and emotional life of a person. The second, the "good little angel", serves as the basis for the "loa" that dwells in a person. A voodoo priest, according to voodoo mythology, can infuse the soul of a "big good angel" into the body of a dead person.
Voodoo priests play a huge role in the cultural life of the Afro-Caribbean population. Despite the fact that there is no internal hierarchy in the layer of priests, there are the most dedicated priests - “mother-leaf” and “father-leaf”, as well as priests who take initiation from senior priests. The population of Haiti turns to the voodoo priests for advice in any field of activity, up to medicine or legal proceedings. Although 98% of Haitians are officially considered Christians, in reality, a huge number of people in the country practice voodoo. Currently, there are voodooists, according to some sources, about 5 million people - this is about half of the population of the republic. In 2003, voodooists managed to achieve recognition of voodoo as the official religion of the Republic of Haiti, along with Catholicism. On the island of Gonav, the cult of voodoo was especially widespread. In 1919, there were also riots initiated by voodooists. The local voodooists were headed by Queen Tee Memenne, who was considered the informal ruler of the African population of the island. As the American occupation authorities fought against the practice of voodoo, they decided to arrest "Queen" Ty Memenne, for which they sent several Marines led by Sergeant Faustin Virkus to Gonava Island. The sergeant's duties included the arrest of the "queen" and her delivery to Port-au-Prince - for investigation and subsequent imprisonment in a local prison. Faustin Vircus completed the mission, after which he continued to serve in the Marine Corps garrison in Port-au-Prince. He had not yet imagined how much a meeting with the "queen" Ty Memenne would change his future life. Sergeant Faustin Vircus spent the next five years in Port-au-Prince, performing his usual official duties.
During this time, certain changes have taken place in the life of Haiti. In 1922, Philippe Sydra Dartigenava was replaced as President of Haiti by Louis Borno, a former Haitian foreign minister who represented the interests of the country's wealthy mulatto elite. Earlier, in the early twentieth century, Borno was already serving as foreign minister, but was dismissed after refusing to contribute to the policy of the United States of America to completely subordinate the Haitian financial system to American interests. Borno urged the American administration of the island to help the republic in solving economic problems. At the same time, Haiti's external debt in the period under review was equal to the country's four-year budget. In order to pay off the debt, Borno took out a multimillion-dollar loan. However, we must pay tribute to him, the situation in the country during the years of his rule did improve a little. Thus, 1,700 kilometers of roads were repaired, which became suitable for car traffic. The authorities organized the construction of 189 bridges, built hospitals and schools, and installed water pipes in major cities. Moreover, an automatic telephone exchange appeared in Port-au-Prince, the first city in Latin America. The Central School of Agriculture began to train agricultural and livestock personnel for the Haitian agricultural sector. Pursuing a policy aimed at improving living conditions and raising the culture of Haitian society, Louis Borno paid great attention to strengthening the position of the Roman Catholic Church in Haiti. Thus, he organized a network of Catholic schools throughout the country, enlisting the support of the Vatican and rightly believing that with the help of the church he could increase the literacy and, consequently, the well-being of the Haitian population. Naturally, Borno did not approve of the spread of voodoo cults in Haiti, which dragged the island's population into the past and alienated it from European civilization.
Emperor Faustin Suluk
In 1925, Marine Sergeant Virkus' dream came true. Faustin Vircus received a long-awaited assignment to Gonave Island as County Administrator. It was at this time that the “queen” Ty Memenne, who had been released from prison, returned to the island. However, surprisingly, she did not organize a new protest movement, but announced to the islanders that the new administrator - US Marine Sergeant Faustin Vircus - is nothing more than the reincarnation of the former Emperor of Haiti Faustin I. It was about Haitian politician and General Faustin-Eli Suluk (1782-1867), who for two years (1847-1849) was President of Haiti, and then proclaimed himself emperor and for ten years (1849-1859) ruled the Haitian Empire. Faustin-Eli Suluk was a slave by origin. His parents - representatives of the West African Mandinka people - were brought to work on the plantations of the French colony of Santo Domingo, as Haiti was called before independence. After the start of the struggle for independence, Eli Suluk joined the ranks of the Haitian army and served under the command of such illustrious generals as Alexander Petion and Jean-Baptiste Richet. In independent Haiti, Suluk made a rather successful military career. After the president of the country, Jean-Pierre Boyer, who expressed the interests of the wealthy mulattoes, was overthrown in 1843, a war broke out in Haiti between mulattoes and blacks.
- General Faustin Suluk
When President Jean-Baptiste Richet, who succeeded Boyer, died in 1847, Faustin-Elie Suluk was elected as his successor. Since Suluk was a Negro, the mulatto elite believed that with his help it would be possible to calm the embittered Negro masses, and Suluk himself, in turn, would be an obedient instrument in the hands of mulatto planters and merchants. But the mulattoes miscalculated. Suluk removed the mulattoes from the leadership of the country and enlisted the support of the Negroes - the generals of the Haitian army. The rich mulattoes fled the country, in part, were arrested and even brutally executed.
In pursuing a tough authoritarian policy, Suluk relied on the armed forces and on the militarized formations of the "Zinglins", created like the National Guard. Apparently, Suluku's presidency was not enough - the 67-year-old general was a very ambitious man and saw himself as the monarch of Haiti. On August 26, 1849, he proclaimed Haiti an empire, and himself - Emperor of Haiti under the name Faustin I. Since the treasury did not have money at that time, the first crown of Faustin I was made of cardboard covered with gilding. However, on April 18, 1852 Faustin I was crowned for real. This time, the most expensive crown in the world, made of pure gold, diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones, was hoisted on his head. The crown was made to order in France, and ermine robes for the emperor and empress were brought from there. The coronation ceremony of Suluk was modeled on the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine Beauharnais. At the end of the ceremony, Suluk several times shouted "Long live freedom!"
During the reign of Suluk, life in Haiti, which was already rather difficult, acquired the features of a theater of the absurd or even a circus. All over Port-au-Prince were posters depicting the seventy-year-old emperor sitting in the lap of the Virgin Mary. Suluk proclaimed his closest associates to be nobles, trying to form a "Haitian aristocracy." He handed out titles of nobility and franchised surnames, giving little thought to the true meaning of the French words, which he made the basis for titles of nobility. So, in Haiti there appeared "Count Entrecote", "Count Vermicelli" and other "aristocrats" with surnames from the menu of a French restaurant in which Emperor Suluk loved to dine. He also formed his own National Guard, in which a uniform was adopted that resembled the uniform of the Scottish Guards of the English king. In particular, the guardsmen wore huge fur hats, the fur for which was purchased in Russia. In France, shakos and uniforms were purchased for the units of the Haitian army. For the Haitian climate, soldiers' fur hats were a highly dubious invention. But when Haiti during the reign of Suluk entered the war with the neighboring Dominican Republic and lost it, Suluk declared defeat a victory and even built several monuments dedicated to the "great victory of the empire over a bloodthirsty enemy."Of course, Suluk collected a large number of loans, which he directed solely to support his imperial court, the maintenance of the guards, the construction of monuments, the organization of balls and parties.
Suluk himself ruled with pathos worthy of the rulers of the world's greatest powers. However, the world perceived the Haitian emperor more as a jester, and his name became a household name. In France, where at about the same time Louis Bonaparte proclaimed himself emperor under the name of Napoleon III, the opposition called the latter nothing less than "Suluk", emphasizing the parallels with the Haitian self-proclaimed monarch. Suluk was often painted by French cartoonists. In the end, the policies of the "emperor", which contributed to the aggravation of the already difficult economic situation in Haiti, led to the discontent of the military circles. The conspirators were led by General Fabre Geffrard (1806-1878), one of the veterans of the Haitian army, who gained popularity thanks to his heroic participation in the wars with San Domingo. Suluk was very worried about the growing popularity of General Geffrard and was about to organize an assassination attempt, but the general was ahead of the elderly emperor. As a result of a coup organized in 1859 by a group of Haitian army officers, Faustin Suluk was overthrown. However, he lived for a long time and died only in 1867 at the age of 84. Fabre Geffrard became President of Haiti.
On the throne of King Gonav
Meanwhile, among a part of the Haitian population, especially Negroes, Faustin-Eli Suluk enjoyed great prestige, and after his overthrow in Haiti, cults began to spread, in which "Emperor Faustin" took the place of one of the deities. Such a cult became widespread on the island of Gonav. On the evening of July 18, 1926, US Marine Corps Sergeant Faustin Vircus was crowned Faustin II on Gonave Island. Obviously, in the proclamation of Sergeant Virkus as the reincarnation of Emperor Suluk, who died almost two decades before the birth of the boy Faustin in Poland, a certain role was played by the similarity of names. But one should also not forget about sober calculation - perhaps the "queen" Ty Memenne believed that by proclaiming the American administrator "King of Gonava", she would be able to achieve an increase in prosperity for her fellow countrymen and an overall improvement in living conditions. By the way, the Negro priestess was right. Indeed, under the leadership of Faustin Virkus, Gonav has developed into the best administrative region in Haiti. In addition to managing the district, Virkus's duties included leading the island police and commanding the local troops of 28 soldiers, who were supposed to protect public order on the island with a population of 12 thousand people. In addition, Virkus collected taxes, checked tax returns, and even performed judicial functions - that is, practically carried out all management of Gonave. During the administration of the island, Vircus organized the construction of several schools and even built a small airport, which contributed to the overall improvement of the living conditions of the islanders and led to an even greater increase in the authority and popularity of Virkus among the Gonavian population.
- "King Gonave" Faustin Vircus and Ty Memenne
Since Virkus had the title of voodoo king, despite his white skin, the inhabitants of the island obeyed him unquestioningly. In turn, Vircus used his position to in-depth study of the voodoo rituals in which he was personally involved. However, Virkus' activities gave his command a lot of trouble. The Haitian leadership reacted very negatively to the proclamation of the American sergeant as king of the island of Gonave, because they saw this as an attempt on the territorial integrity of the republic and feared that sooner or later Vircus, relying on his voodoo fans, would overthrow the government in Port-au-Prince and himself become the leader of the country. …The Haitian government has repeatedly emphasized in meetings with representatives of the US military command the undesirability of Vircus' activities on Gonave Island. Especially actively the Haitian leadership began to demand a solution to the issue with Vircus after the President of Haiti, Louis Borno, visited the island of Gonave in 1928 and was personally convinced of the situation. Eventually, Faustin Vircus was transferred to Port-au-Prince in 1929 for further service, and in February 1931 the former "voodoo king" was dismissed from American military service altogether. In 1934, American troops were finally withdrawn from Haiti. This was preceded by the decision of Franklin Roosevelt on the ineffectiveness of the presence of the contingent on the island, after which, from August 6 to 15, 1934, the US Marine Corps and military police units were withdrawn from the Republic of Haiti. The "most African" state in the Caribbean was left alone with its political, social and economic problems.
The story of the proclamation of the American non-commissioned officer as the king of the Haitian voodooists could not remain without the attention of journalists and writers. William Seabrook published the book "The Island of Magic", in which he talked about Faustin Virkus. After the publication of the book, the latter began to receive letters from readers, the answer to which was the publication in the same 1931 of the autobiographical book "The White King of Gonava". The circulation of this work has reached 10 million copies. After the publication of the book in the United States, a kind of "boom" of the voodoo religion began. Faustin Vircus toured the states to lecture on Caribbean culture and voodoo religion, becoming an American-recognized expert on Haiti and Haitian society. As a consultant, Vircus was involved in the release of the documentary Voodoo in 1933. This film, as the name suggests, focused on the religion and culture of the Haitian voodoo. However, like any "boom", the interest of the American people in Haiti and voodoo soon began to wane and Vircus could no longer make a living by lecturing on Afro-Caribbean culture and paying royalties. He took up gambling and selling insurance, practically disappearing from the political and cultural life of American society. Only in 1938 did a mention of Faustin Virkus appear in American newspapers - he called on the American government to launch an intervention against the dictator of Trujillo, the Dominican Republic bordering Haiti. In 1939 Faustin Virkus, despite being 43 years old, decided to return to service in the Marine Corps - apparently, his financial affairs were going very badly. He began serving as a recruiter in New Ark, New Jersey, and was transferred to Marine Corps headquarters in Washington in 1942, and later to the Marine Corps Training Center in Chapel Hill. On October 8, 1945 Faustin Vircus died after a long illness and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was only 48 years old. Today the name of Faustin Virkus is practically forgotten, the bulk of publications devoted to his interesting and, in some ways, unique life exist in Polish.
