A Man of Conviction:
How Aristides de Sousa Mendes Saved 30,000 People From The Nazis
“I cannot allow all you people to die. Many of you are Jews, and our constitution clearly states that neither the religion nor the political beliefs of foreigners can be used as a pretext for refusing to allow them to stay in Portugal. I've decided to be faithful to that principle, but I shan't resign for all that. The only way I can respect my faith as a Christian is to act in accordance with the dictates of my conscience.”
~ Aristides De Sousa Mendes, 1940
Header image: “The S.S. Nyassa steaming out of Lisbon harbor with 750 refugees, Lisbon, Portugal, March 1944,” JDC Archives, 1944
A website by Nico Allen
Created for the 2023 Lowell Milken Center for
Unsung Heroes Discovery Award Competition
At the start of World War Two (WWII), many Europeans fleeing the Nazis sought refuge in neutral Portugal. However, in late 1939, Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveria Salazar began denying visas to all refugees. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Portugal’s consul in Bordeaux, France, defied Salazar’s order on a grand scale. In June 1940, he illegally issued visas for an estimated 30,000 people, 10,000 of whom were Jews. Salazar punished him severely by stripping his diplomatic rank, and he later died in poverty. Despite Sousa Mendes’ remarkable conviction and courage, his heroism is still widely unknown today.
