Mendes, Aristides de Sousa, 1885-1954

[Mr. Sousa Mendes was Portugal's consul in Bordeaux when Germany invaded France in 1940 during World War II. According to the Sousa Mendes Foundation which is run by descendents of the visa recipients, he provided approximately 30,000 people with Portuguese visas to escape Nazi persecution. His status as one of the most important protectors of the Jewish people, if not the precise number of visas, has been confirmed by Yehuda Bauer, a Holocaust historian at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. Mr. Sousa Mendes started ignoring Lisbon's orders and delivering his visas in 1939, several months before Germany's invasion of France, in part because he had a twin brother, a fellow Portuguese diplomat, who was stationed in Warsaw and told him about Nazi atrocities there. When the Portuguese government realized the scale of his disobedience, Mr. Sousa Mendes was recalled to Lisbon, tried and dismissed from the diplomatic service. Stripped of his pension rights, he died in poverty in 1954.]

found: Afonso, R. Injustiça, c1990:t.p. (Sousa Mendes) introd. (Aristides de Sousa Mendes; Counsel-General of Portugal in Bordeaux, France, 1938-1940; career diplomat; d. 1954; Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches) p. 17 (b. 07-19-1885 in Cabanas de Viriato, near Mangualde, Portugal)

found: Grande encic. port. e bras., 1936-1960:v. 16, p. 870 (hdg.: Mendes, Aristides de Sousa)

found: Wikipedia, 12 July 2013(Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches, GCC, OL (July 19, 1885-April 3, 1954); Portuguese diplomat. He ignored and defied the orders of his own government for the safety of war refugees fleeing from invading German military forces in the early years of World War II. Between June 16 and June 23, 1940, he frantically issued Portuguese visas free of charge, to over 30,000 refugees seeking to escape the Nazi terror, 12,000 of whom were Jews.) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes

found: New York times, 10 July 2013:page A4 ("In Portugal, a protector of the people is honored"; Aristides de Sousa Mendes) - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/world/europe/in-portugal-a-protector-of-a-people-is-honored.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[Mr. Sousa Mendes was Portugal's consul in Bordeaux when Germany invaded France in 1940 during World War II. According to the Sousa Mendes Foundation which is run by descendents of the visa recipients, he provided approximately 30,000 people with Portuguese visas to escape Nazi persecution. His status as one of the most important protectors of the Jewish people, if not the precise number of visas, has been confirmed by Yehuda Bauer, a Holocaust historian at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. Mr. Sousa Mendes started ignoring Lisbon's orders and delivering his visas in 1939, several months before Germany's invasion of France, in part because he had a twin brother, a fellow Portuguese diplomat, who was stationed in Warsaw and told him about Nazi atrocities there. When the Portuguese government realized the scale of his disobedience, Mr. Sousa Mendes was recalled to Lisbon, tried and dismissed from the diplomatic service. Stripped of his pension rights, he died in poverty in 1954.]