With bernard le coq, nanou garcia, lionel lingelser, roger souza. April 1954 in lissabon war ein portugiesischer diplomat. The sousa mendes foundation is interested in tracking the fates of all visa recipients, no matter their stories. He was dismissed from the diplomatic service and was denied retirement and severance benefits. Portugals schindler is remembered, decades after his lifesaving. The sousa mendes visa recipients came from fortynine countries and all walks of life. However, mendes had a keen sense of right and wrong, coupled with solid christian values. According to the sousa mendes foundation which is run by descendents of the visa recipients, he provided approximately 30,000 people with portuguese visas to escape nazi persecution. Built in the 19th century, it was the property of the sousa mendes family until it was forfeited to the bank in the 1950s. As the portuguese consul stationed in bordeaux, france, he found himself confronted in may and june of 1940 with the reality of many thousands of refugees outside the portuguese consulate attempting to escape the horrors of the nazi war machine. He was a portuguese diplomat who served his country for 30 years. After filling posts in various capitals including the united states and europe, he was posted to bordeaux, france, as the portuguese consulgeneral. Those attributes led him to openly defy his government to save the lives of thousands of people.
His disobedience again angered the portuguese government. Hij verstrekte twee visa zonder overleg en werd direct op zijn vingers getikt. Sousa mendes was portugals consul in bordeaux when germany invaded france in 1940 during world war ii. In portugal, a protector of a people is honored the new york times. Sousa mendes, portugals consul in bordeaux when germany. Between june 16 and 23, 1940, he frantically issued portuguese visas free of charge, to over 30,000 refugees seeking to escape the nazi terror, 12,000 of whom were jews. They were jews and nonjews, public figures and private citizens, most with passports but many without.