THE MANY MARVELOUS MITZVOT OF
ARISTIDES DE SOUSA MENDES
I was delighted to read the article about Aristides de Sousa Mendes in your May 30 issue (Der Yiddish Vinkl). Mendes is one of the lesser-known heroes of the Holocaust whose story remains untold.
As a Mendes visa recipient and Mendes scholar, I must add some comments to your story. Mendes was a devout Catholic, but he came from a Marrano background and was very proud of his Jewish heritage.
The period when he and his staff issued the visas was a month later than stated in your story: June 18th to the 21st. At that time, an estimated 100,000 refugees had flocked to Bordeaux. The refugees were not only French, but included Dutch, Belgians and former refugees from Germany, Austria and Czecholovakia.
The number of visas issued during this crucial period is usually stated at 30,000, a third of which were Jews. What is not stated is that these visas were not to individuals but to families; in our case, both my father and my uncle Paul, Belgian refugees who had settled near Bordeaux, were issued one visa each that rescued nine individuals. The number of people rescued by Mendes far exceeds 30,000 and remains unknown.
When Mendes reached Lisbon, he faced a hearing and was brought up on 14 different charges. Although he was an attorney, he was not permitted to defend himself. The outcome of the hearing was the loss of his position and the denial of his pension, despite the fact that he had devoted 32years to the Portuguese foreign service.
He could not practice law and his adult children could not attend university. He was not stripped of his possessions, but had to sell them in order to provide for his family. The only ones who reached out to help him were the Jews. He ate at the soup kitchen established by the Jewish community and was granted a monthly stripend by a Jewish organization. HIAS also paid the fare for three of his sons to go to America and Canada.
Yad Vashem recognized Mendes as a "Righteous Gentile" in 1967, but the Portuguese government has not yet rehabililitated him. In March, 1995, President Mario Soares and the first lady of Portugal hosted some 50 Mendes family members and supporters from America for a tribute to Mendes; I was the only visa recipient present. Unfortunately, the goodwill of the former president and first lady have not affected the official stance towards Mendes; the Portuguese prime minister informed Pedro Nuno, one of two sons who helped issue visas, that if his father were to disobey his government's orders today, he would be punished just as severely.
This article was first published in 'The Forward' July 11, 1997 and reprinted in the "Reunir" The Journal of The de Sousa Mendes Society volume 111 January 1998 by permission of Mr B. Bell.
Henri Zvi Deutsch is a member of the Sousa Mendes Society who travelled to Portugal with the group in 1995, survived World War II in Portugal, and was saved by a visa issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
E-mail: Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum
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Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum