Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Consul-General Aristides de Sousa Mendes was in charge of the Portuguese Consulate in Bordeaux, in 1940. His colleagues esteemed him an able and dedicated career diplomat. When history catapulted him overnight to the position of custodian of human lives hanging in the balance, he proved that he was far more.

Escape by land from Nazi Europe was possible only through neutral Spain and Portugal. From Lisbon, passage to countries beyond Europe was obtainable. A Portuguese transit visa was necessary to exit France, though, for at the time Spain permitted no refugee to enter her territory who could not present one.

And thus, in Bordeaux thousands of desperate refugees stormed the well-appointed Portuguese Consulate at 14 Quai Louis XVIII; each hoping to gain the all important Portuguese transit visa before the German Army arrived. They did not know the person in charge of the consulate, only that someone in the building now held their earthly fates in his hands.

As a diplomat, Consul-General Sousa Mendes had nothing to offer them. What happened next is the little-known story of a man who rose above all personal considerations and did the diplomatically unthinkable: He rebelled against service orders and used his office to overturn them, on behalf of humanity.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes indiscriminately issued transit visas for entry into Portugal to an astounding 30.000 refugees, beating the Nazis to their lives. Ten thousand were for Jews and 20.000 were for other refugees. Mendes saved the entire royal Habsburg family, including the Empress Zita. In addition, he saved the entire Belgian cabinet in exile. Mendes personally conducted hundreds of Jewish refugees across a border checkpoint on the Spanish frontier. By sheer magnitude of daring and weight of numbers, Sousa Mendes effectively opened up a refugee escape route where none had existed. All of his life saving activities were done against the orders and policies of his government.

For decades, no mention of Sousa Mendes was allowed in the country where he spent the rest of his days as an outcast. The ostracism extended to his family, inflicting suffering on his wife and children.

The man of courage and conscience who stood alone in 1940 to defy three dictators and defend humanity was deliberately sunk into oblivion. He died a martyr, and was denied a page - or even a footnote - in the history books.