On the occasion of its traditional Sukkot dinner in Hekhal Haness, on October 17th 2019, the Henry Dunant Lodge of B’nai B’rith, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Hilda Cohen, paid tribute to Mr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Just Among the Nations, the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux who saved 30,000 souls against the will of his government and personally paid the high price until his death.

In the presence of about a hundred guests, the journalist of the newspaper “Le Monde”, José-Alain Fralon, author of the book “Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Le juste de Bordeaux” and scriptwriter of the film “Désobéir”, as well as the grandson of the Consul, Mr. Gerald Mendes and Mrs. Monica Barzilay, granddaughter of a “visa holder Mendes” each in turn told how the story of this Just has personally affected them.

On the occasion of its traditional Sukkot dinner in Hekhal Haness, on October 17th, the Henry Dunant Lodge of B’nai B’rith, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Hilda Cohen, paid tribute to Mr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Just Among the Nations, the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux who saved 30,000 souls against the will of his government and personally paid the high price until his death. 

In the presence of about a hundred guests, the journalist of the newspaper “Le Monde”, José-Alain Fralon, author of the book “Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Le juste de Bordeaux” and scriptwriter of the film “Désobéir”, as well as the grandson of the Consul, Mr. Gerald Mendes and Mrs. Monica Barzilay, granddaughter of a “visa holder Mendes” each in turn told how the story of this Just has personally affected them. 

With his usual skill, Mr. Philippe Lugassy, TSR journalist and moderator of the discussion, managed to get the speakers to speak by keeping the audience on their toes as they were able to ask various questions at the end of the conference. 

During the thirty years of the “Salazar reign”, Portugal wanted to ignore the action of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and it was only in the 1980s that the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem recognized that this “unorthodox Consul” was worthy of the name Just because it is important to know that in only nine days, in June 1940, he issued more than 30,000 visas for Portugal to all persons who requested them, in full disobedience of the rules in force at the time. Indeed, when he received the injunction to obey the orders, he replied: “No, if these orders are contrary to any humanitarian feeling…”. At first, each holder’s name was duly registered in the visa book, but following the flood of immigrants who came to Bordeaux from Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, it was no longer possible to keep the registers and the Consul even had to sit on the street to issue visas. 

This well-considered gesture in his soul and conscience as a good Catholic and respectful of the Constitution of Portugal will be fatal for the career and life of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, because Salazar will always resent him and will deprive him of his position as a diplomat and the Bar Association, preventing him from working forever. Most of his 14 children then had to go into exile to find work and now live scattered in many countries. 

There are now Sousa Mendes Foundations in the United States and France and a website www.fondationsousamendes.com that we recommend you consult. 

“Aristides de Sousa Mendes, The Price of Disobedience” was a wonderful evening. We thank all the participants and speakers for making it so interesting.