Portugal finally recognises consul who saved thousands from Holocaust

BBC ^ | 17 June 2020 | James Badcock

[SJackson]

Aristides de Sousa Mendes and a telegram from Portuguese dictator Salazar

Eighty years ago, a middle-aged, mid-ranking diplomat sank into deep depression and watched his hair turn grey in days, as he saw the streets of Bordeaux filling with Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis.

As Portugal's consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes faced a moral dilemma. Should he obey government orders or listen to his own conscience and supply Jews with the visas that would allow them to escape from advancing German forces?

Sousa Mendes' remarkable response means he is remembered as a hero by survivors and descendants of the thousands he helped to flee.

But his initiative also spelt the end of a diplomatic career under Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, and the rest of his life was spent in penury.

Portugal finally granted official recognition to its disobedient diplomat on 9 June, and parliament decided a monument in the National Pantheon should bear his name.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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Long but interesting story. Among those he got out of France, Salvador Dalí, filmmaker King Vidor, members of the Rothschild banking family and the majority of Belgium's future government-in-exile.

Just think, if we would only take out all references to Hitler and Nazi, destroy all documents with such references, level what camps are still left, no one would know this happened. Till the next time.

[kiryandil]

Say his name: Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

Erase the name of the other fentanyl-eating, riot-causing criminal POS from history.