The “Righteous Among the Nations” have been rewarded. A museum dedicated to Aristides de Sousa Mendes is set to open on Friday, July 19, in Carrigal do Sal, Portugal, 70 years after his death in 1954 at the age of 68. Dubbed the “Portuguese Schindler,” the consul, who was appointed to Bordeaux in June 1940, saved several thousand people from deportation by granting them visas to leave France.
During the summer of 1940, foreign consulates suffered a sharp increase in the number of visa applications from Jews, who were desperate to escape Nazi-controlled territory. The exiles went in large numbers to the Portuguese consulate in Bordeaux.
Aristides de Sousa then experienced great internal tension, fueled by particularly restrictive measures imposed by the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, regarding the entry of Jewish refugees. The latter prevented Portuguese diplomats from issuing entry visas to the country. “Foreigners of unspecified nationality”for Stateless persons “or to” Jews »
About 30 thousand visas were granted.
Faced with the despair of the applicants, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who until then had been an unwavering supporter of the regime, would distance himself and ignore the instructions. Denying visas to these poor people would have required an effort beyond his strength. The Portuguese historian Rui Afonso says in his book entitled: Portuguese Wallenberg.
Thus, Mendes de Souza issued more than 30,000 visas, first in Bordeaux between June 17 and 20, then in Bayonne between June 20 and 22 and finally in Hendaye between June 22 and 26. In nine days, the diplomat gave these precious keys to the applicants, without distinction of nationality or religion, thus saving 10,000 Jews.
On 8 July 1940, the Portuguese consul was finally dismissed by Salazar and ordered to return to Lisbon. He was charged with premeditated disobedience, recidivism and accumulation of offences, and brought before a disciplinary commission. He found himself deprived of his income and died in 1954, in debt and estranged from his fourteen children.
Several honorary initiatives
After he fell from grace in Portugal, the Jewish state hailed him in 1966 as “Righteous Among the Nations.” So far, only three men in Salazar’s country have been honored with this honorary title: Mendes de Sousa, Carlos Sampaio Garrido, another diplomat, and Joaquim Carreira, vice president of the Pontifical Portuguese College in Rome.
Twenty years later, in 1986, the Portuguese state finally rehabilitated him under pressure and thanks to the efforts of his family. Aristides de Sousa was decorated with the Cross of Merit. A few years later, Mário Soares, President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996, publicly apologized to those close to Mendes de Sousa.
Parliament also rehabilitated his diplomatic career by posthumously granting him the title of ambassador. Finally, in October 2021, Portugal brought the “Portuguese Schindler” to the National Pantheon in Lisbon.
