Aristides and Angelina de Sousa Mendes with their first six children, 1917. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. <\/i><\/p>\n
"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have – Mahatma Gandhi<\/p>\n There\u00b4s always a little light shining through. Even in times of darkness. These For evil to be defeated someone must oppose it.<\/p>\n Aristides was born on July 19, 1885 to a devoutly Catholic The regime issued Circular Fourteen \u2013an infamous document addressed to Aristides de Sousa Mendes choose to ignore the As a faithful Christian, he felt that the only The situation escalated in June 1940, when Aristides befriended Chaim From then on there were no more nationalities, races nor religions. He has giving everyone visas to escape.<\/p>\n Aristides actions were not well received in Lisbon. The Spanish and German authorities Upon arrival he was immediately subjected to a The regime, however capitalized on his actions. View of the entrance gates to Auschwitz in Poland. Jemma Crew\/PA Wire\/PA Images. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n Aristides de Sousa Mendes courage and humanity As the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World As the\u00a0biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War\u00a0unfolds in front of our eyes, we must think of them in today\u00b4s context.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Marta Sharp, Witold Pilecki, J\u00f3zef and Wiktoria Ulma, Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg and Nicholas Winton were some of the lights<\/em> that shone through during one of the darkest periods in States will end up honouring<\/em> them, but for now, they keep forcing them to disobey<\/em> in the name of justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you want to find out more, you can visit the Aristides and Angelina de Sousa Mendes with their first six children, 1917. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. "It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nto do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time,
\nthat there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right
\nthing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do
\nnothing, there will be no result."<\/em><\/p>\n
\nlittle lights<\/em> have saved thousands,
\nhundreds, dozens of lives. Their reflection has shaped the lives of
\nindividuals, families and entire generations. We forget \u2013 too often \u2013 that for the darkness to recede the
\nlight must advance. That for evil to be defeated someone must oppose it. Aristides
\nde Sousa Mendes was one of those brave men and women that did oppose it. He
\ndidn\u00b4t have to. He
\ncould had stood idly by as refugees were persecuted throughout Europe, in
\ndesperate need for help. But instead he extended his arm. Against his government. In
\ndetriment of his family interests, his country's diplomatic ties and his
\nprofessional future. He decided to put his conscience over his orders, issuing
\nvisas for approximately thirty thousand refugees, who were able to escape
\npersecution through Portugal.<\/p>\n
\nfamily. After studying law, he soon joined the diplomatic corps, being
\nappointed in 1929 as consul in Antwerp, where he lived for almost ten years.
\nHowever, in 1938 his live would change forever, as he was appointed as the
\nPortuguese consul-general in Bordeaux. Portugal lived then under the dictatorship of Antonio de Oliveira
\nSalazar, and the
\ncountry\u00b4s geographic
\nposition made it an escape route for those fleeing the Nazi regime. With the
\ninvasion of Poland \u2013 and as
\nPortugal declared its neutrality \u2013 the number of refugees in transit grew exponentially, making it necessary<\/em> for the Portuguese government
\nto act.<\/p>\n
\nall its diplomats \u2013 to deny safe
\nhaven to the stateless, Russian and German citizens and the Jews without an
\nexpress authorization from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The measure was not
\nunique to Portugal and was mainly established to protect the country\u00b4s economic interests and reduce mass
\nimmigration. However, the discriminatory Circular made it extremely difficult for fleeing refugees to find safe harbour
\nin Portugal. <\/p>\n\u201c<\/strong>I disobeyed, but my disobedience does not dishonour me<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\ncircular. He believed he could not act in any other way. The measure was both
\ninhumane and unconstitutional, as the Portuguese Constitution stated that no
\none could be discriminated against on political or religious grounds. Aristides didn\u2019t know that a systematized persecution of Jews and
\nother minorities
\nwas taking place under the Nazis. But he did know \u2013 his brother was consul in Warsaw \u2013 that atrocities were occuring. <\/p>\n
\nway he could act was according to his conscience. And his conscience told him
\nthat he had to help those fleeing persecution. So, he disobeyed his order and
\nstarted issuing Portuguese forbidden visas<\/em>
\non November 1939. <\/p>\n
\nKruger \u2013 a Jewish rabbi \u2013 who escaped with his family to
\nBordeaux. As the Nazis advanced throughout France, Aristides offered him and
\nhis family Portuguese visas. The rabbi, however, refused, unless the offer was extended to all
\nJewish refugees
\nwandering through the streets of Bordeaux. His decision forced Aristides to
\nchoose between his career and his principles. He chose the latter. From then on
\nthere were no more nationalities, races nor religions. He has giving everyone
\nvisas to escape.<\/p>\nThe <\/strong>\u201c<\/strong>Angel of Bordeaux<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\ncomplained to Salazar about his behaviour \u2013 which arguably undermined the
\nregime\u00b4s diplomatic
\nrelationships \u2013 while several
\nof his superiors denounced his irregular issuing of visas. Finally, Salazar recalled
\nhim home. The Angel of Bordeaux<\/em>, as
\nhe would after be named, took his time. He arrived to Lisbon on July 8, 1940,
\nissuing visas on his way back home. <\/p>\n
\ndisciplinary proceeding. He was accused of disobeying orders and infringing Circular 14. Despite recommendation to demote
\nhim, Salazar decided to suspend and cut by half his pay for a year. Only then was
\nhe 'retired'<\/em>. His family \u2013 fifteen children and his wife \u2013 was blacklisted. Disgraced. Most of
\nhis children emigrated. Aristides himself would die in poverty in 1954. His
\nactions unknown in his own country.<\/p>\n
\nAfter the end of the war, Salazar tried to make Aristides bravery his own. Portugal\u00b4s image as a safe haven for refugees
\nwas then established.
\nHowever, it had nothing to do with the regime. On the contrary, it was
\nestablished despite<\/em> of it. At a time
\nwhen many politicians and diplomats were cowards, Aristides was a true hero.
\nHowever, his country failed to recognize it until 1987, when he was awarded the
\nOrder of Liberty and, one year later, symbolically reinstated to the diplomatic
\ncorps.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201c<\/strong>It happened, therefore it can happen again<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nwas recognized before. In 1966, he was instated as a Righteous Among the
\nNations, a
\nrecognition awarded by the State of Israel for those who risked their lives to
\nsave Jews from Nazi persecution. His actions go however, beyond any religion,
\nrace or ideology. And are carried nowadays by all of those that perpetuate the struggle for human rights and human dignity.\n<\/p>\n
\nWar unfolds in front
\nof our eyes, we must think of them in today\u00b4s context. We must recall the \u00c9vian Conference \u2013 where the international community
\nfailed to reach an agreement on how to accommodate thousands of refugees
\nfleeing persecution \u2013 and remember
\nthat what happened before i<\/em>s happening again<\/em>. As thousands are dying every year in the
\nMediterranean, as the
\nPresident of the United States himself has decided to ban people from several Muslim-majority
\ncountries, as a
\ntragedy unfolds in Syria and Iraq, we should do more. We must do
\nmore.<\/p>\n
\nhuman history. Others are shining through right now. In rescue boats in the
\nMediterranean, in refugee camps in Syria and Iraq. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
\nSousa Mendes Foundation website
\nor its\u00a0Facebook
\npage.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"