#aristides sousa mendes

[ibnlivro]

Our consul in France who faced the dictator Salazar and saved hundreds of lifes.

Available at our bookstore.

[salvadorbonaparte]

Broaden Your Horizons 2024

A Non-Fiction Rec List by Salvadorbonaparte

Books

Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and Culture - Jeffrey Shandler

A Good Man in Evil Times: The Heroic Story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes -- The Man Who Saved the Lives of Countless Refugess in World War II - Jose-Alain Fralon, Peter Graham (trans.)

Brief Answers to the Big Questions - Stephen Hawking

Erebus: The Story of a Ship - Michael Palin

Every Word Is A Bird We Teach To Sing: Encounters with the Mysteries and Meanings of Language - Daniel Tammet

Federico Garcia Lorca: A Life - Ian Gibson

Getting to Yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in - Roger Fisher, William Ury

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban - Malala Yousafzai

Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition - Paul Watson

Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny - Amartya Sen

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating - Alan Alda

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science

Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe - Gaston Dorren, Alison Edwards (trans.)

Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film - Harry M. Benshoff

One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest - Wade Davis

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour - Kate Fox

What's Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She - Dennis Baron

Documentaries

Bowling for Columbine

Break It All: The History of Rock in Latin America

ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black

She's Beautiful When She's Angry

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Podcasts

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Freaks and Psychos: The Disability in Horror Podcast

Lingthusiasm

Ologies with Alie Ward

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia

The Sewers of Paris

[zemagltd]

Everyday Poetry - “Que mundo é este em que é preciso ser louco para fazer o que está certo”. Aristides de Sousa Mendes

[“What kind of world is it where you have to be crazy to do what's right?" Aristides de Sousa Mendes. Painting at Vila Nova de Gaia - Portugal - 30.06.2023]

[hasufin]

Righteous Among the Nations

I just got around to reading an article in Smithsonian Magazine about Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

He was the Portugese Consul in the French city of Bordeaux in 1940. In his post, he was allowed to issue visas for Portugal, which due to its professed neutrality would enable refugees to escape the growing war. However, the Portugese regime was more sympathetic to the Nazis, and had forbade him to issue visas to Jews or most other refugees.

This came to a head for Mendes when Paris fell, and refugees flooded South, with thousands petitioning him for the papers they needed to escape. He relented, and ultimately issues tens of thousands of visas, even after the Salazar government specifically told him he could not do so.

Many of the refugees were not Jews, but rather people who ostensibly could have lived under the Nazi regime. But they knew what authoritarianism meant, and that fleeing would be better.

Today, the IDF still conducts military actions in Gaza, frequently targeting civilians. Refugees do not know where to go - refugee camps are now, and have been historically, targeted. Border crossings are closed. Food and clean water are scarce. People are forced to abandon their belongings, knowing they probably will not be allowed to return - and would find rubble even if they could.

And I ask, where would be the "Righteous Among Nations" in this? Would he be saluting the young men in tanks as they shoot at people trying to get food? Or would he be at the border crossing trying to get the gates open so people could flee the carnage?

[tvparapobres]

Vistos Para a Vida

Aristides de Sousa Mendes desafiou ordens para salvar vidas. 80 anos depois, testemunhas lembram o que aconteceu Read the full article

[hotnew-pt]

Joana Marques apresenta-nos a Topics de Tiago Paiva, uma rede social para nos salvar das outras redes sociais #ÚltimasNotícias #Portugal

Hot News Joana Marques foi até ao maior evento digital do país, e quem sabe do mundo, a Tópicos Encontro digital. O evento foi organizado pelo youtuber Tiago Paiva para apresentar a Tópicosa rede social que vai fazer história e que nos vai curar da toxicidade de todas as outras redes. A rede que vai mesmo tornar Tiago Paiva num dos portugueses que mais fez pelos seus: “Aristides de Sousa Mendes,…

[f0xd13-blog]

My fave joke is even to makeun of Kanye for trying to find hints bout this in Italy .... Like what is he trying to find there ... black mummies? Buahahahah because in Italy u only gonna find and have that now

[ricmlm]

The memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes

The first recognition came in 1966 from Israel, which declared Aristides de Sousa Mendes “Righteous among the Nations”. In 1986, the United States Congress issued a proclamation in honor of his heroic act. Later he was finally recognized by Portugal, with the President of the Republic at the time, Mário Soares, apologizing to the Sousa Mendes family and the Portuguese Parliament posthumously promoted him to the rank of ambassador. Sousa Mendes' face appeared printed on stamps in several countries.

“What world is this where you have to be crazy to do what is right?”, Aristides de Sousa Mendes

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ricardo Miguel Lopes Moreira (@ricmlm)

[pacosemnoticias]

Presidente de Israel adia visita a Portugal prevista para início de novembro

O Presidente de Israel, Isaac Herzog, adiou uma visita a Portugal que estava prevista para o início de novembro, informou o chefe de Estado português, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

De acordo com uma nota divulgada na página oficial de Belém, “o Presidente da República falou ontem de manhã ao telefone com o seu congénere israelita, Isaac Herzog, a pedido deste”.

“O Presidente de Israel queria explicar o adiamento da visita a Portugal (que estava prevista para início de novembro), bem como informar o Presidente português da posição do seu país sobre a situação atual”, refere a nota.

De acordo com o mesmo texto, o Presidente de Israel ���agradeceu a condenação imediata dos ataques terroristas por Portugal”.

“Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa falou da posição portuguesa, no quadro dos valores e princípios internacionais e constitucionais. Foi naturalmente considerada a relevância das vidas humanas envolvidas”, acrescenta o texto.

Na semana passada, durante a sua visita de Estado à Bélgica, o Presidente da República considerou que Portugal "tem sido claro na condenação que houve do ataque terrorista do Hamas" de 07 de outubro em território israelita, defendendo o "direito legítimo de resposta de Israel em relação ao Hamas", mas separando este grupo islamita do "povo palestiniano como um todo" e condenando "condutas e comportamentos que ao atingir vítimas civis inocentes são obviamente deploráveis".

"Foi claro, como foi a União Europeia, quando disse que há resoluções das Nações Unidas quanto a dois Estados [de Israel e da Palestina]. Elas estão de pé", acrescentou então Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

O grupo islamita Hamas lançou em 07 de outubro um ataque surpresa contra o sul de Israel com o lançamento de milhares de foguetes e a incursão de milicianos armados, fazendo duas centenas de reféns.

Em resposta, Israel declarou guerra ao Hamas, movimento que controla a Faixa de Gaza desde 2007 e que é classificado como terrorista pela União Europeia e Estados Unidos, bombardeando várias infraestruturas do grupo na Faixa de Gaza e impôs um cerco total ao território com corte de abastecimento de água, combustível e eletricidade.

O conflito já provocou milhares de mortos e feridos, entre militares e civis, nos dois territórios.

Em janeiro de 2020, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa deslocou-se a Israel para participar no 5.º Fórum Mundial do Holocausto, em Jerusalém, e chegou a planear uma troca de visitas de Estado com o seu homólogo israelita, na altura Reuven Rivlin.

Nessa ocasião, o chefe de Estado português manifestou vontade de regressar a Israel para a inauguração da praça Aristides de Sousa Mendes e anunciou ter convidado o seu homólogo Israelita "a visitar Portugal, se possível até ao fim do ano" de 2020, o que não se concretizou.

Reuven Rivlin foi substituído no cargo de Presidente de Israel em julho de 2021 por Isaac Herzog.

[classemediadupaty]

Journée commémorative des génocides. 27 janvier 2023.

Le 27 Janvier 2023, nous sommes allés au Musée d’Aquitaine à Bordeaux pour voir une mise en scène réalisée par des lycéens du lycée des métiers Saint Vincent de Paul. Ils nous ont rejoué sous la forme d’une pièce de théâtre, l’acte héroïque de Aristide De Sousa Mendes, consul du Portugal à Bordeaux, qui a offert des visas aux Juifs en 1940, contre la volonté de son gouvernement. Ensuite nous…

[history-matters]

A little Marie-Helen (Eliko) Kereselidze (1921-2002, Paris) with parents Gen. Leo Kereselidze (1885-1943, first Berlin bombings) and Swiss watches manufacturer heiress Marthe LeCoultre. Lausanne, 1923. Due to the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, from 1932 to approximately 1985 watches were cased in locally produced cases in North America and sold under the name LeCoultre by the company Vacheron-LeCoultre, a subsidiary of Longines-Wittnauer, with slightly different case designs.

According to family papers Marie was born on July 13, 1921 in Lausanne. She studied at one of the Catholic Marian church schools in Italy. She accompanied her father in Morocco, where he served in French Foreign Legion. He was demobilized by pro-German Vichy government from the free zone and moved to the German zone. In Tangier, Morocco, Marie had become engaged with German intelligence operative who recruited her. It is considered merit of Marie Kereselidze, that the secret negotiations between top Portuguese and American diplomats accredited in Tangier were uncovered. At the time, Lisbon was the chief distribution port for International Red Cross Committee relief supplies to POW and internment camps; the main link for civilian flights between the United Kingdom and the United States; and, a notorious center for spies. Lisbon also became the center for tens of thousands of refugees from Central Europe, the Low Countries, Morocco and France. Although Portugal sought in 1940 to halt the entry of refugees and the issuance of visas for them, many Portuguese disregarded their government's policies. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese diplomat in Bordeaux, France, disobeyed his government's orders and issued 10,000 visas before he was recalled and dismissed. During 1941 and 1942 the Portuguese Government allowed 5,000 refugees to pass through Portugal to the United States.

Together with the remnants of the German Afrika Korps Marie left for Germany. She worked in the Wustrau prison camp near Berlin among the Soviet and other foreign POWs in 1943-1944. Her father died in Allied bombings of Berlin in Nov., 1943. Captured in Italy in 1945, she spent two years in British custody in a post-war Germany (unconfirmed). She and her mother supposedly settled in Peru. In 1964, Mariam left the Communist Party of Peru and taught English at the Faculty of Marine Biology in a port located two hundred kilometers south of the country. She spent the last years of her life with her husband in Paris. She was lecturing at the Sorbonne University under the name of Mariam Herrera.

P.S. I can’t rule out that Peru simply was agent accommodation address in this very strange story.

[momo-de-avis]

It's slightly different with the inquisition tho. On an institutional level there have been actions made to acknowledge the acts committed against jewish people. Mario Soares was the first to acknowledge if I am not mistaken, with the government officially issuing statements recognising the past and officially apologising (in a way)

The catholic church has issued statements and offered an olive tree that today stands on the square where the Lisbon pogrom happened

The memorial to the victims of the 1506 massacre was offered by the lisbon city hall

There will be a jewish museum inaugurated in lisbon some time next year or the following which comes from joint efforts between city hall, historians and the jewish community of lisbon

And they made that law in 2015 just like spain, where everyone that can prove sephardic ancestry can get portuguese citizenship

I will say what I told a client who once told me he had a feeling portugal did not acknowledge its crimes against jews: that I believe institutionally there have been good efforts to acknowledge it, and either way, the inquisition is part of our curriculum and I can possibly think of a way to teach that in a positive light. With colonialism however it's different.

I posit a different possibility. I think the portuguese stand at a point where we believe we've atoned our sins in world war II and then point at Aristides de Sousa Mendes. And it's true that the people (not the fascist regime) of portugal came together to help thousands of Jewish refugees in incredible ways.

I still don't think it has anything to do with catholic guilt bc we are just a people with aversion to the word guilt (I honestly find it stupid to put it in such terms and ridiculously antagonising and limiting, it's about acknowledging history). But I can't deny that there have been institutional efforts to acknowledge the horrific things jews suffered in portugal

i once read somewhere that one of the reasons why portugal won't recognize palestine is because of the "catholic guilt" regarding the way jews were treated in portugal. do you think this is true?

Possibly. I genuinely don't know. I think the average portuguese person doesn't even know enough history of jewish ppl in this country to even understand why there's a level of guilt to begin with (just today I saw a video of a lady from Morocco and a portuguese lady comparing words thay sounded identical and the comments were portuguese assholes saying because we kind of were in Morocco they stole the words from us, like the al-Andalus was a fever dream I guess).

I genuinely also believe there is political interest behind, although I also don't know enough about it to discuss it, which ties perfectly into Portuguese people's general inability to see the gray area of any topic whatsoever.

But I don't think the majority of Portuguese people are against Palestine. Lisbon is loaded with free palestine messages and I don't know a single person who is pro israel. I know of guides in finicky situations bc the clients were israeli and tried to start shit bc of something they saw written on the walls. Most of us just try to avoid the conversation cause well we gotta do our jobs

On a governmental level however is a different conversation.

I just find it so hard to simply accept it's "catholic guilt" when this country is made of people who genuinely want to claim Cristopher Columbus for ourselves but you never know

[wjaktungsten]

Pieczęć ratująca życie 

“Oby zawsze i wszędzie szanowano wolność sumienia i oby każdy chrześcijanin dawał wzór działania zgodnego z prawym sumieniem, oświeconym przez Słowa Boże”, powiedział w „Dniu sumienia” papież Franciszek podczas audiencji ogólnej 17 czerwca 2020 roku. Słowa te padły po przypomnieniu postaci Aristidesa Sousy Mendesa, portugalskiego konsula w Bordeaux, który uratował życie bardzo wielu ludziom, w tym tysiącom Żydów, umożliwiając im ucieczkę z zajmowanej przez nazistów Francji.

Przypomniałem w mojej książce “W jak tungsten” tę wspaniałą postać w malutkim epizodzie. Pan konsul jest dla mnie bowiem postacią szczególną. Pokazał, że można być bohaterem pełniąc administracyjną funkcję, że można dokonywać wielkich czynów siedząc za biurkiem. I że za bohaterstwo często trzeba zapłacić wysoką cenę.

Słowo o człowieku wielkiego serca

Urodził się w tzw. dobrej rodzinie w 1885 roku. Wzorowy katolik, żonaty, 14 dzieci. Skończył dobre szkoły, szybko awansował w służbie dyplomatycznej. Gdy niemieccy żołnierze wkraczali do Paryża, pełnił funkcję portugalskiego konsula w Bordeaux. Jego kraj już wcześniej ogłosił neutralność. Niemcy nie zamierzały atakować Portugalii, był więc bezpieczny. Mógł patrzeć smutnym wzrokiem na przewijające się pod jego rezydencją tłumy uciekinierów, mógł poczekać na nowy porządek w Europie, mógł spokojnie sączyć wino i cieszyć się swoją rodziną.

Nie musiałby kilka miesięcy później stać w kolejce po darmową zupę wydawaną przez żydowską organizację charytatywną w Lizbonie. Nie był przecież Żydem. Był wzorowym katolikiem. Aristides już w 1933 r. na terenie swojej rodzinnej posiadłości w Cabanas de Viriato wybudował z własnych środków pierwszy w Portugalii pomnik Chrystusa Króla. W podlizbońskiej Almadzie podobny pojawił się dopiero ćwierć wieku później.

Nie umarłby w biedzie i zapomnieniu w 1954 roku. Mógł korzystać z życia, nikt by mu przecież nic złego nie mógł powiedzieć. Nikt od niego nie oczekiwał heroizmu. I tak nie doczekałby tytułu “Sprawiedliwego wśród narodów świata”, nadanego mu w 1966 roku przez Yad Vashem.

Zrehabilitowano go oficjalnie w 1986 roku. Dzisiaj ma swoje ulice, dzisiaj mówi o nim papież...

Z punktu widzenia swojej smutnej przyszłości popełnił błąd. Sprzeciwiając się rządowi i jasnym instrukcjom. Wbrew zdrowemu rozsądkowi i rozkazom dyktatora Salazara zaczął wydawać wizy tranzytowe do Portugalii. Nie patrzył na narodowość, wyznanie, poglądy polityczne. Wiedział, że ci, którzy stoją do niego w kolejce, mają istotny powód, aby nie spotkać niemieckich katów. Podpisywał wizy w konsulacie, w godzinach urzędowania jak i poza nimi. Podpisywał w restauracji, podpisywał ubrany oficjalnie, choć coraz częściej w szlafroku. Wydał tak dużo wiz, że sporej części nie zarejestrowano. Z pewnością uratował więc więcej ludzi niż oficjalne 30 tysięcy. Najliczniejszą grupę stanowi Żydzi uciekający przed Zagładą, ale nie brakowało Polaków, Belgów, Francuzów czy Hiszpanów. Dzięki jego wizie uratował się Salvadore Dali, reżyser King Vidor czy nasz Julian Tuwim i Antoni Słonimski.

Fragment rejestru z wizami

Istotną rolę w tej historii odegrał polski rabin mieszkający w Belgii Chaim Hersz Kruger. Po ataku Niemiec na Belgię uciekł on ze swoją żoną i pięciorgiem dzieci do Francji. Początkowo trzymał się niedaleko granicy, licząc na szybki koniec wojny. Jednak po ataku Niemiec na Francję znalazł się w Bordeaux. Tak natknął się na tysiące koczujących Żydów, którzy, wraz z uchodźcami z innych części Europy, wypełniali skwery, parki czy boiska.

Właśnie szli całą rodziną smutni i zrezygnowani, gdy koło nich zatrzymał się elegancki samochód. Szofer otworzył drzwi, z wnętrza wyszedł potężny mężczyzna. Podszedł do rabina, przedstawił się jako konsul generalny Portugalii i zaprosił do swojej rezydencji. Powiedział, że gdy ich zobaczył, zrobiło mu się żal, bo sam ma trzynaraścioro dzieci. Rodzina skorzystała z zaproszenia, jednak nie czuli się dobrze w wytwornych wnętrzach w których znajdowało się wiele symboli katolickich. Rabin stwierdził, że nie może zatrzymać się w takich luksusach, gdy wielu jego rodaków śpi na ulicy. Konsul odpowiedział, że rozumie i że podbije wizę dla Chaima i jego rodziny. Kruger podziękował i odparł, że chętnie skorzysta, ale jako ostatni z koczujących Żydów. Najpierw niech pan konsul pomoże innym – poprosił. Od tego zaczęła się ich przyjaźn. Rabin pomagał konsulowi w wystawianiu wiz. Wbijał pieczątki i podstawiał do podpisu. Był jednym z ostatnich, którzy otrzymali wizę. 15 czerwca 1940 roku, już po odwołaniu konsula Aristida de Sousa Mendesa, rodzina przekroczyła granicę. W czerwcu 1941 roku na pokładzie statku Nyassa odpłynęli do Nowego Yorku.

Konsul Aristides de Sousa Mendes z rabinem Haimem Hersz Krugerem

Konsulowi bardzo pomagała żona, Maria Angelina de Sousa Mendes. To dzięki jej pomocy cała akcja przebiegała tak sprawnie. Później, gdy jej mąż został wydalony ze służby dyplomatycznej, pozostała przy nim, prowadząc skromne życie i stale oglądając się za siebie, bowiem nieustannie kontrolowała ich tajna policja. Ona zmarła na wylew 1948 roku, on sześć lat później. W osamotnieniu, bowiem jego liczne dzieci nie zaakceptowały drugiej żony.

Przywołując postać konsula z Bordeaux, warto pamiętać o jego bracie-bliźniaku, ambasadorze Portugalii w Polsce. Cesar de Sousa Mendes pomógł wydostać się z okupowanej Polski Cecylii Dolata. “Cecylia Dolata była osobą, która miała bliskie kontakty z Portugalczykami. Przez kilka lat mieszkała w Portugalii. Była m.in. nauczycielką języków obcych córki prezydenta Republiki Portugalskiej Antonio Jose de Almeidy, który stał na czele państwa w latach 1919-1923” – powiedział w wywiadzie dla PAP Jose de Sousa Mendes, syn ostatniego ambasadora Portugalii w przedwojennej Polsce. Waśnie ta historia podobno ośmieliła brata do podjęcia akcji ratowania ludzkich istnień. Przybijaną w konsulacie pieczątką.

Zdjęcia ze strony sousamendesfoudation.org

[noticiassoltas]

Musealização da casa de Aristides Sousa Mendes custa 1 milhão de euros

Musealização da casa de Aristides Sousa Mendes custa 1 milhão de euros

 A recuperação e musealização da Casa do Passal, onde residiu o antigo diplomata português Aristides Sousa Mendes, vai custar um milhão de euros, no quadro das inúmeras atividades previstas no Programa Nunca Esquecer, ligado à memória do Holocausto.

Averba foi avançada hoje pelo ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros português, Augusto Santos Silva, ao falar na sessão de apresentação…

[portugalnet]

Anyone who has seen “Casablanca” knows the connection between Portugal and World War II refugees. But few know the story of the Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who in 1940 saved tens of thousands of lives only to be punished for this heroism by his own government. As we mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, we should honor this man who engaged in what one historian called “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.”

(...)

Mr. Sousa Mendes died in obscurity in 1954, blackballed by the government and bombarded by creditors, reduced to being fed by a local Jewish soup kitchen.

“Was he a great man? Was he mad in showing so little instinct for self-preservation?” one of his sons asked. “The answer lies in all of us when we try to pass judgment on him. I am proud of the fact that I was lucky enough to have such a man as my father.”

Tens of thousands today are alive because of his courage.

[read here]