Shelly’s take · Why we chose this story
A true story, researched by hand and told with AI.
In brief
Who was Aristides de Sousa Mendes?
Aristides de Sousa Mendes was Portugal’s consul in Bordeaux when, in June 1940, he chose his conscience over his instructions and issued visas to refugees desperate to leave France: thousands in all, with 1,575 counted by Yad Vashem in Bordeaux between 15 and 22 June alone. He was dismissed for it, died penniless in 1954, and was exonerated in 1988.
The story in the curator’s words
Bordeaux, June 1940
Bordeaux, June 1940. France has fallen, and refugees, many of them Jews, have fled south hoping to leave through Spain and Portugal. Many crowd the Portuguese consulate, struggling to obtain the one piece of paper that will get them out. The consul, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, has explicit instructions from his government. Seeing the plight of the refugees, he decides to disobey them.
A visa for everyone in need
He received a delegation of refugees headed by Rabbi Haim Krieger and promised transit visas to everyone in need. Those who could not pay the fees, he added, would receive them free of charge.
He set up an improvised office in the consulate and, with two of his sons and refugees who were waiting nearby, began issuing the papers. By Yad Vashem’s account he worked for three days and three nights without a moment’s rest, and collapsed in exhaustion when the job was done.
“I would rather stand with God against Man than with Man against God,” he declared.
Thousands, and a number no one knows
How many people passed through that office is not fully known. Yad Vashem counts 1,575 visas issued in Bordeaux between 15 and 22 June 1940. The Sousa Mendes Foundation says that, in all, he issued thousands. The full number is unknown.
Bayonne, and after
He was recalled. On the way home, still in France, he passed the Portuguese consulate in Bayonne and saw hundreds of people at its doors. Although he had been recalled, he went in and ordered visas issued to all the applicants at once.
Back in Lisbon he was brought before a disciplinary panel and dismissed from his post. He died penniless in 1954. On 18 October 1966, Yad Vashem recognized him as Righteous Among the Nations, and in 1988 he was granted total exoneration.
This page asks nothing of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who died in 1954. The road out he opened for refugees in 1940 is the road refugee-resettlement organizations like HIAS still keep open today. Amplifying him is how we keep both the man and that ongoing work in the light. That is the whole of what Creative House Studios does here: tell a true story with dignity, and point to the people still carrying its cause forward.
Carried forward today hias.org
Go to their work
HIASResettles persecuted refugees: the literal modern equivalent of the transit visas he issued.Visit hias.org ↗Sousa Mendes Foundationsousamendesfoundation.org ↗Questions answered from the sources below
Questions about Aristides de Sousa Mendes
How many visas did Aristides de Sousa Mendes issue?
Thousands. Yad Vashem counts 1,575 visas issued in Bordeaux between 15 and 22 June 1940; the Sousa Mendes Foundation says he issued thousands in all. The full number is unknown.
What did he promise the refugees in Bordeaux?
Receiving a delegation of refugees headed by Rabbi Haim Krieger, he promised transit visas to everyone in need, free of charge for those who could not pay the fees.
What happened to him afterward?
He was recalled, brought before a disciplinary panel in Lisbon and dismissed. He died penniless in 1954. Yad Vashem recognized him as Righteous Among the Nations on 18 October 1966, and in 1988 he was granted total exoneration.
Sources 5 cited
Sources
- Sousa Mendes Foundationfoundation · sousamendesfoundation.org
- Aristides de Sousa Mendes: his life and legacy (Sousa Mendes Foundation)archive · sousamendesfoundation.org
- Yad Vashemarchive · yadvashem.org
- Désobéir (2008)film · imdb.com
- Wikipediareference · en.wikipedia.org
