No Questions Asked
On June 17, 1940, Sousa Mendes began issuing Portuguese visas to everyone who requested one.
Aided by his son Pedro Nuno, his nephew César, and his consular secretary José de Seabra, Sousa Mendes worked sleeplessly and with little food, issuing visas for three days straight.
Rabbi Kruger helped collect passports from people outside to expedite things. They worked in assembly line fashion, with one taking the visa, one stamping it, and Sousa Mendes signing it. If someone was without a visa form, they simply substituted a piece of paper.
“The sidewalks, the front door, the large stairways that led to the consulate were crowded with hundreds of refugees who remained there night and day waiting for their turn. In the consulate, they worked all day long and part of the night. My uncle became ill and exhausted, and had to lie down…He was impelled by a divine power (these were his own words) and gave orders to grant free visas to everybody.” (César de Sousa Mendes, Aristides’ nephew)
By June 19, Sousa Mendes had signed visas for everyone in Bordeaux who came to the consulate. Then he heard the situation further south was worsening. He ordered Portugal’s consul in Toulouse to sign visas as he had done, and himself went to Bayonne and signed as many visas as he could.
On June 24, an outraged Salazar sent a telegram to Sousa Mendes that said, “You are strictly forbidden to grant anyone a visa for entry to Portugal.” But despite the arrival of a Spanish diplomat and the ensuing volley of angry letters summoning him back to Portugal, Sousa Mendes continued his work.
By the time he left on July 8, Sousa Mendes had issued enough visas to help approximately 30,000 refugees escape France.
“Vilar Formoso crossing to Portugal,” IP Património, 1940
Sousa Mendes did not discriminate against anyone. “He applied the principle of ‘no questions asked. He cared not a bit about the applicant’s religion, nationality, or ethnic origin. He just kept on signing.” (José Alain Fralon)
He also directed the refugees to specific Portuguese-Spanish border crossings he knew were not equipped with telephones, in case word of Sousa Mendes’ actions reached the Portuguese government.
“Telegram from the MNE to the Portuguese embassy in France, demanding the immediate return to Portugal of the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes,” Aristides de Sousa Mendes: Un Justo Contra a Corrente, Miriam Assor, Guerra e Paz, 2009
Header image: “Polish-Jewish refugees seeking to leave Europe arrive in Lisbon,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1940
A website by Nico Allen
Created for the 2023 Lowell Milken Center for
Unsung Heroes Discovery Award Competition
“Page of Sousa Mendes visa registry book listing families,” Sousa Mendes Foundation, 1940