[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 131 (Tuesday, November 16, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF ARISTIDES DE SOUSA 
               MENDES, HUMANITARIAN AND WORLD WAR II HERO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in commemoration of the 50th 
anniversary of the death of World War II hero, Aristides de Sousa 
Mendes. Mr. Sousa Mendes, the defamed Consul General of Portugal to 
Bordeaux, France, spared more than 30,000 lives from the perils of 
Hitler's Nazi regime.
   In May of 1940, the Nazis broke through French defense's in Sedan 
and Hitler's blitzkrieg exploded over the French borders. In a matter 
of days, a deluge of refugees from Paris, Warsaw, Berlin and Riga 
headed towards Southern France hoping to flee to neutral Portugal or 
Spain via Bordeaux. Using pushcarts, trucks, wagons and any other 
ramshackle mode of transportation, thousands of Jewish refugees and 
others of ``ill-defined nationality,'' according to the Nazis, stormed 
the city of Bordeaux in hopes of obtaining the transit visa needed to 
exit France. Homeless and laden with their salvaged belongings, men, 
women and children slept in the streets and on the park benches of 
Bordeaux. The Jewish refugees sought out the Bordeaux synagogue in seek 
of shelter and care.
   Kindled by Nazi propaganda, rampant anti-Semitism plagued Bordeaux 
as the flood of Jewish refugees spread through the streets. The 
situation for the thousands of refugees became more desperate day by 
day. The wealthier refugees managed to book sea passage and left Europe 
for safer shores. The remaining helpless masses became increasingly 
despairing as Spanish General Franco, indebted to Hitler, was 
determined not to allow refugees to infiltrate the Spanish borders. 
Unless refugees held a Portuguese issued transit visa on their person, 
they were unable to flee to Portugal via Spain.
   In November of 1939, Portuguese Premier Antonio de Oliveira Salazar 
issued a directive, which forbade his diplomats in Europe from granting 
transit visas to categories of people without explicit permission from 
Lisbon. Included in these categories were ``Jews expelled from the 
countries of their nationality or those from whence they issue", 
``stateless persons,'' and ``all those who cannot safely return to the 
countries from whence they came.'' Subsequently, on May 17, 1940, days 
after the Nazis invaded France; Salazar declared that under no 
circumstances was any visa to be granted unless previously authorized 
by Lisbon, and only on a case-by-case basis.
   Serving as the Portuguese Consul-General, Aristides de Sousa Mendes 
witnessed the clamoring throngs of refugees at the gates of the 
Portuguese Consulate in Bordeaux. Disregarding the Premier, Sousa 
Mendes declared, ``I will grant a visa to whoever needs it, whether 
they can afford it or not. I will act in accordance to what my 
Christian conscience tells me.''
   Indiscriminately, Sousa Mendes distributed transit visas in 
Bordeaux, Bayonne and Hendaye near the Franco-Spanish border. Sousa 
Mendes issued 30,000 transit visas and opened up a refugee escape route 
assumed to have saved the lives of over one million World War II 
refugees. Ten thousand of these refugees were Jews certain to have 
perished at the hands of the Nazis in extermination camps. The other 
20,000 visas appeared in the passports of artists, writers, 
intellectuals, journalists, priests, nuns and others whose beliefs did 
not embody those of the fascist regime of Hitler's Nazi empire.
   Sousa Mendes became known as the ``Angel of Bordeaux.'' He and his 
beloved wife Angelina welcomed refugees into their own home. The halls, 
chambers and grounds of the Portuguese Consulate were filled with 
hungry, exhausted and terrorized individuals awaiting visas that 
promised them life.
   By June 17, 1940, an arbitrary system of gathering stacks and stacks 
of passports, stamping them with the coveted visas, and redistributing 
the documents without fee, record or count became Sousa Mendes' 
unceasing mission.
   As conditions worsened in France, more and more refugees fled to the 
South of France in hopes of fleeing to Portugal. On June 19, 1940, 
Sousa Mendes left his family in Bordeaux to assist more refugees in the 
Franco-Spanish border city of Bayonne. Overtaking the Consul General in 
Bayonne, he began to distribute exit visas to the thousands lined up 
all around the Consulate. In Bayonne, a telegram was sent to Lisbon 
from the actual Bayonne Consul General, Mr. Machado, informing Salazar 
of Sousa Mendes' activities.
   Two telegrams were sent to Sousa Mendes. One telegram demanded that 
Sousa Mendes cease his visa production and the second informed Sousa 
Mendes of his dismissal. Neither telegram was received, as Sousa Mendes 
had already moved to the border city Hendaye, to continue distribution. 
However, on June 24, 1940, he returned to Bordeaux and received the 
telegram with orders to leave France. Sousa Mendes disregarded the 
notice and thought of a method to keep the trapped refugees out of 
concentration camps: he began to issue Portuguese passports. Again he 
was rebuked by Lisbon and ordered to depart from France.
   Due to the group of prestigious individuals Sousa-Mendes saved, 
including Otto Habsburg, members of the Rothschilds family and members 
of the Belgian cabinet, Premier Salazar initially acknowledged the good 
press resulting from Sousa-Mendes' disobedience. Regardless, shortly 
thereafter, Salazar shunned Sousa Mendes, rendering this hero a 
disgraced, persona non grata.
   Closely monitored by Portuguese authorities, Sousa Mendes and his 
family were condemned to humiliation, destitution and infamy. Merely 
weeks before the end of the war, Sousa Mendes suffered a stroke and was 
left paralyzed. Eight years later his wife, Angelina, who served with 
Sousa Mendes tirelessly throughout the insanity of their days in 
Bordeaux issuing exit visas and passports, suffered a cerebral 
hemorrhage in 1948 and perished six months later.
   On April 3, 1954, Aristides de Sousa Mendes died at the Franciscan 
Hospital of the Tertiary Order in Lisbon. The Portuguese government 
never pardoned him while he still lived. Finally, in 1987, President 
Mario Soares granted Sousa Mendes the Portuguese Order of Freedom and 
publicly apologized to his surviving family for the injustices their 
family endured.
   Mr. Speaker, as you know my wife Annette and I were saved from death 
by Raoul Wallenberg. Aristides de Sousa Mendes action's were equally 
valiant, as Ben Macintyre said, ``Like Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish 
diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from Auschwitz in 1944 
and 1945 by issuing them with diplomatic documents, de Sousa Mendes 
risked his life and destroyed his career by following his conscience.''
   Despite Sousa Mendes' noble sacrifice, the public at large is not 
aware of the courage and bravery of this man. However, one organization 
that does honor this man's life, and recognizes the importance of 
acknowledging the power of one to make a difference, is the 
International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
   In recognition of those who strive to emulate the courageous and 
selfless acts of Wallenberg and de Sousa Mendes, the International 
Raoul Wallenberg Foundation minted a commemorative Aristides de Sousa 
Mendes medal. This Medal is presented yearly to individuals from all 
walks of life whose lives exhibit an unwavering commitment to 
humanitarian values, and a willingness to risk one's own life for 
fellow human beings, as Wallenberg and Sousa Mendes did in World War 
II.
   This year marks the 50th anniversary of this great humanitarian's 
death. It is imperative to me and my wife, that this unsung hero's 
legacy is recognized and celebrated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the 
opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

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