With vitor norte, carlos paulo, joao nunes monteiro, leonor seixas. The german occupation prompted tens of thousands of refugees, including thousands of jews, to flee southward from the northern departements in the hope of exiting france via the only remaining avenue of escape, the southern border into spain and portugal, and. Sousa mendes left bordeaux on july 8 and returned to lisbon, portugal. Apr 08, 2011 the strain caused the fracturing of his family, and in 1954 sousa mendes died in poverty and obscurity. Parallels descendants of jews who escaped nazioccupied france recently gathered to. Aug 04, 2016 portugals schindler is remembered, decades after his lifesaving deeds. He issued visas to 30,000 refugees, the majority of whom were jews fleeing the nazis, helping them to avoid certain death. The views expressed here are his own unless otherwise noted. Today, mendess name is engraved in gold in the pantheon of the righteous among the nations. He was a man who was truly alone during one of the darkest moments in history.
Portugals schindler is remembered, decades after his lifesaving deeds. Jun 17, 20 simon wiesenthal center october 20th, 1986. At the time, portugal was under the dictatorial rule of antonio salazar, and even though it was declared as officially neutral in the war, salazar issued a directive called circular 14 to all of portugals diplomats, instructing them to. The book begins with mendess childhood, family, and career. After filling posts in various capitals including the united states and europe, he was posted to bordeaux, france, as the portuguese consulgeneral. With god against man, documentary by semyon pinkhasov u. Sousa mendes saved more lives than schindler so why isnt. Portugals schindler is remembered, decades after his lifesaving. Five sousa mendes visa recipients and their families were on hand to welcome the president, and representatives of the sousa mendes foundation. Catala cestina deutsch espanol esperanto euskara francais ido. Louisphilippe mendes, huffington post, 18 april 2012. April 1954 in lissabon war ein portugiesischer diplomat.
Sousa mendes saved more lives than schindler so why isnt he. Born into an aristocratic portuguese family, mendes chose a diplomatic career for himself. He was a portuguese diplomat who served his country for 30. The government, embarrassed by the bessa lopes report, suppressed its existence for more than a decade. As the portuguese consulgeneral in bordeaux, france, during world war ii, sousa mendes was responsible for saving the lives of thousands of people. He was dismissed from the diplomatic service and was denied retirement and severance benefits. He was a portuguese diplomat who served his country for 30 years. News people profiles sousa mendes saved more lives than schindler so why isnt he a household name too. In addition, we learn about portugals neutral policy of the time. Following the occupation of france in the summer of 1940, foreign consulates were faced with large numbers of jews, desperately trying to obtain visas in order to leave nazi dominated territories. In portugal, a protector of a people is honored the new. Two other portuguese diplomats, carlos sampaio garrido and alberto teixeira branquinho, acted in a limited way along similar lines.
He studied law in the centros regions capital, coimbra, and obtained his degree in 1908. Sousa mendes saved more people than schindler but died a pariah. The guardian reports that his final wish was that his name be restored. With the nazi invasion of france came an order from portugal that no jews or dissidents. However, mendes had a keen sense of right and wrong, coupled with solid christian values. Having graduated in law, in the university of coimbra, in 1907, aristides unlike his father, who was a judge and his twin brother, who embarked in politics chooses to follow a consular career, mainly connected to administrative aspects, in particular the.
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