Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches, a Holocaust rescuer and Portuguese hero, is honored today, on
World Refugee Day, by a group of citizens, descendants from WW2 refugees saved by the Portuguese diplomat. They have come from different countries and will be gathering in Cabanas de Viriato / Carregal do Sal / Viseu to visit his family home, Casa do Passal.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, as he is known, was the Consul General of Portugal in Bordeaux, when in June 1940 Hitler took over France. In spite of acting against
António de Oliveira Salazar's orders, he courageously chose to disobey and to issue life-saving visas to thousands of refugees (mainly Jews) in record time.
"I would rather stand with God against man, than with man against God."
This altruistic deed - that by historians is considered as "the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust" - would bring him not only material loss but also social humiliation as he was put on trial, removed from his post and stripped of many of his rights, having died disgraced, alone and in poverty in 1954...
"If thousands of Jews suffer because of a non-Jewish demon (Hitler), then surely a Christian can suffer with so many Jews."
It is now
Sousa Mendes Foundation, a non-profit organisation, that is searching for, compiling a list and gathering all the info on the visa recipients and their families saved by the Portuguese Consul. Another aim is yet in perspective: to raise money to rebuild the now ruined iconic family home, Casa do Passal, to transform it into a memorial to perpetuate the memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the victims of the Holocaust.
The first to come to Cabanas de Viriato for today's history lesson on tolerance, citizenship and recognition was Eric Moed. This young New Yorker architect arrived two weeks ago to build his "temporary museum" project as a way of saying "THANK YOU" for the visas that saved his father and grandfather.
Long known amongst us Portuguese, but, as usual, unable to take any action to preserve what's ours and to honor our hero's legacy, we need foreigners to acknowledge his deeds, to raise awareness (and money) to do it when we should have taken the lead! Anyway, it's never too late to give thanks and what really matters is that now, at last, something is being done to celebrate the best of Humankind and to restore some peace of mind to Sousa Mendes's descendants.
"I could not have acted otherwise, and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love."
Being a Portuguese and a teacher, I believe I also have a role to play.
In the aftermath of WW2, heroic acts of bravery have been celebrated in the media, in movies - who hasn't heard of
Irena Sendler, the Polish nurse who saved over 2500 children from the Holocaust? Who hasn't read Anne Frank's Diary and doesn't remember
Miep Gies, the Dutch lady who hid Anne Frank and her family? Or who hasn't seen the movie and inspiring true story of "
Schindler's List"? Well, it's about time we celebrated our national hero even if only posthumously.
All can and should watch
Disobedience (also
here) but research on Human Rights, WW2, altruism, citizenship should include the Consul of Bordeaux in order to give him his rightful place in history. The schoolyear is over, but some ideas for my sts for 2013/2014 or 2014/2015 include: working in groups sts can work on different aspects: Sousa Mendes's background and family, his role as a consul during WW2, the consequences of his disobedience, his list... and can use different tools such as digital timelines, posters, newspapers. Above all, and working collaboratively, I will ask my sts to write a text to be published
here.
Being included in this project in the "Lifesavers" category among world heroes and names like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King or Mother Theresa would be more than fair.
After over 70 years, it's time for injustice to give way to recognition, for pain and suffering from his descendants to give way to relief and tranquility. A humble tribute, but better late than never...
