[Music]
good afternoon everyone and welcome to
the Center for Jewish history my name is
Judy Siegel and I'm the director of
academic and public programs here at the
center we're delighted to have you all
here this wonderful audience for our
symposium this afternoon which is called
Portugal and the Jewish refugee crisis
of World War two the Center for Jewish
history is the home to five partner
organizations the American Safari
Federation the American Jewish
Historical Society
Leo Beck Institute Evo Institute for
Jewish research and yeshiva university
museum together they have collections
that number about a hundred thousand
excuse me a hundred million archival
documents and five hundred thousand
volumes which makes this the largest
repository of modern Jewish history in
the world two of our partners today the
American Safari Federation and Leo Beck
Institute our co-sponsors of the event
and we are delighted that they are
participating with us and one of the
collections which is actually housed
here in Leo Beck Institute that of the
lesser family is on display in a case in
the Great Hall you will hear more about
that at the end of our formal
presentations this afternoon
so many of the stories of world war ii
and the jews are told within these
archives and the one we tell today is
certainly one of them the country of
Portugal under the dictatorship of
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar remained
neutral throughout the war and Lisbon
its port city served as an active
transit stop on the way from
nazi-occupied Europe through to freedom
thousands cross through the Iberian
Peninsula moving from Spain to Portugal
some were quite famous like Heinrich man
Alma who was the brother of Thomas man
Alma Mahler who was the widow of the
composer and the writer Franz Werfel
most were not countless aid
organizations set up camp in Portugal
where throughout the war
Lisbon remained a last hope for refugees
trying to find passage to safe reports
for some it was just a stop until
transit and entry visas could be
obtained on the way to the United States
and South America for others it became
home for some the only home they ever
knew and some were able to get to
Portugal only through the courageous
acts of defiance of our steadies de
Sousa Mendes the Portuguese Consul
General in Bordeaux France
this history and these stories are the
subject of today's program apart from
our colleagues in residence here who are
our partners for the for the for the
program I want to offer my thanks to the
Sousa Mendes foundation who has been a
major co-organizer co-sponsor Coast
source of support for this wonderful
afternoon
Olivia mattes who is the co-founder and
past president of the Sousa Mendes
Foundation brought the idea for this
program to us and has given all of the
resources at her command to make it
happen for that we can thank in a way as
you'll read in the biographies on the
back of your programs consul general
Sousa Mendes who was responsible for
helping Olivia's family come to America
Marian Caplan who is a member of the
academic Advisory Council of both the
center and of the Leo Beck Institute has
kept a close watch on the intellectual
rigor of our presentation so for that we
thank you Marian as you can see from the
program we have some very distinguished
guests who will provide greetings and
right now I'd like to introduce one of
them to you but just before I do one of
the people who wrote about the
experience of coming to Portugal and
what it meant was the niece of Heinrich
Mann and the sister of goal oh man who
was Golo and Erica man who wrote this
we're the children of Thomas Mann all of
them refugees from Nazi Germany who
ultimately made it to the United States
Erica Mann wrote Lisbon the only free
and neutral harbours in Europe has
become the meeting place and waiting
room for all those who have flown from
Hitler what has drawn the people to
these streets is neither a World
Exposition nor a festival it is the
banished the homeless who have gathered
here their numbers may fluctuate but
they are always in the thousands the
refugees arrived here without belongings
without money often without
identification papers and what can they
do here only one thing stay as long as
they are allowed to just wait for what
for the ship that will save them that
will take them away anywhere just away
further away from the enemy who was at
their heels no matter where they went he
had hunted them across the whole of
Europe and now they waited for the ship
that would come to save them I hope that
you will enjoy the afternoon and that
you have I know many of you much to
contribute to the conversation and for
some of you this will be a wonderful
opportunity to learn yet another story
what I would like to explain is a little
bit about what's going to happen I'm
going to continue with some
introductions there will be three
presentations we'll have a short talk
about the exhibition that's in the hall
that we hope you all get to see because
then we will have an extended coffee
hour and when a half-hour actually and
when that's over we will be showing a
film as you can see on your program it's
called Lisbon Harbor of Hope and
following that for those of you who are
still here
a discussion or QA about the film and
anything else you'd like to talk about
so that's the afternoon right now I am
very proud and pleased that the
Portuguese government has sent Rui
Boavista marques who is the trade and
investment Commissioner here at the
Consul of Portugal in the United States
in New York good afternoon
do you well my name is Hui baggage to
Mars and I'm tried an investment
commission for Portugal here in the US
as well as Council for Economic Affairs
at the general consulate here of
Portugal in New York I've been here for
three years
we normally have international positions
I just renewed it and very gladly I was
saying in New York for three more years
so I am your disposition for any further
follow-up I'm here on behalf of two
ambassadors ambassador nunu Brito is our
current Portuguese ambassador to the
u.s. from this in Washington DC is today
in San Diego in California celebrating
the Portuguese heritage in in California
and representing also ambassador Alvaro
Mendonca Mora is our ambassador to the
United Nations is in Portugal this week
and I'm very pleased to be here and I
want to congratulate the organizers of
the event so Judas Segal thank you very
much for hosting this event and of
course the show's immense foundation the
previous president Oliva mattis and I'm
really thrilled to know to come finally
to meet we Philip Mendes also and I'm
particularly pleased also to thank for
your presence in this symposium and the
panelists that will present their papers
I believe that you are geared up to a
new speed of achievements and to a
greater momentum is taking place only in
2013 several benchmark decisions and
actions took place and I would just like
to mention
briefly five a new law that grants
automatic Portuguese nationality to
descendants of the victims of the 16th
century musician was promulgated in July
29th by the Portuguese Parliament this
might as well as be considered as
awarding a key to the house of their
ancestors and certainly a very strong
welcoming message from the Portuguese
government and population in general the
second issue that I would like to rise
is that under cultural and tourism side
of the equation the new network of
Jewish sites
- Judy arias enrolls now more than 30
locations from former synagogues ritual
baths Jewish quarters and new local
museums and the third and achievement
that I think was really important this
year was not only the activities in
general of the foundation but the trips
organized in July that really rise that
the awareness not only important but
also here of the potential that we have
still tuned to walk through but it
really raised a lot of awareness is
important I'm really thankful to the
foundation for the trip organized
support Rome the number 4 will be the
cottage due to the area's allotted the
siefer odd that project was announced in
mid-august by the state secretary for
culture budgeting five million euros to
restore and renovate portugal jewish
heritage sites with a strong support
from norway and here in New York on June
26 the Consulate General in partnership
with the Spanish and Portuguese
synagogue organized a seminar on the
Portuguese Jewish legacy gathering also
sponsorship from the American Sephardic
Federation so I believe that this
symposium will bring us to a new quality
level of the discussion and we are
really thankful for the organization and
I really have to come to congratulate
the organizers and we in give you all
the best wishes for a great symposium
thank you
so now we'll begin the program and it's
my great pleasure to introduce to you
Olivia mattis without whom this whole
thing would never have happened as I
said the the BIOS are on the back but I
think that there are a few things that I
would like to pull out so that you could
hear them because they're really
important here although it's a wonderful
achievement olivia is a award-winning
musicologist with a PhD from Stanford
but her real credentials today are as a
descendant of 12 people from her family
for whom Aristides de Sousa Mendes
provided passage to safety and through
that experience and through her contacts
through her activism she came to us with
this program it is my great pleasure to
introduce you to her she will moderate
and introduce the the paper the delivery
of the papers the part and the
conversation this afternoon Olivia hi
everyone on behalf of the Sousa Mendes
Foundation I wanted to add my voice of
welcome to those of Judith Siegel and
Marie Marquez I also wanted to thank
Judy Segal for agreeing to host today's
event as well as Mary Ann Kaplan who
helped to organize it it has been a joy
working with both Judy and Marion my
father received a Portuguese visa from
Aristides de Sousa Mendes when he was
seven years old and I have known about
this story all my life three years ago
in September of 2010 a group of us
including visa recipients descendants of
recipients members of the Sousa Mendes
family and supporters of the cause
decided to start a foundation whose
mission and goals you have in the
pamphlet in your hands
the Foundation has an active research
team that is seeking to identify locate
and contact families who have received
visas who received visas from Sousa
Mendes in the spring of 1940 many of the
families that we have identified are
here with us today
so at this time I would like to ask any
audience members whose families receive
these precious visas and/or who escaped
Nazi occupied Europe through Portugal -
please stand up
[Applause]
I would like to ask those of you who
just stood up to please stay in the
auditorium after the symposium at the
beginning of the coffee break so that we
can get a beautiful group picture at
this time I am delighted to introduce
our first speaker
margarita Romeo is here all the way from
Portugal where she is a curator scholar
and historical researcher she is the
author of Lisbon City during wartime she
is also one of the driving forces behind
a remarkable new museum being created in
Portugal in the village of Villa for
mozu on the Spanish Portuguese border
the train station in that village was
the first sight of Portuguese soil that
the refugees encountered in 1940 and
margarita is helping to convert a couple
of warehouses at the train station into
a museum telling the stories of the
refugees who escaped Nazi occupied
Europe through Portugal this is a very
exciting project and the Sousa Mendes
foundation is delighted to be partnering
in this effort by contributing documents
photographs and testimonials
Margarita's talk today will be on the
subject of Portugal's policies and
practices during World War two and is
entitled the last frontier Portugal
during wartime and I'll ask for the Q&A
to be held until the end so we're going
to have the three talks and then we'll
do our Q&A so please welcome margarita
Romeo
[Applause]
hello hello everybody I'm a guerrilla
Somali
I'll leave you told you I'm very proud
to be here today I'm very thankful to
sew cement foundation and the Center for
Jewish history for inviting me
usually in Portugal I never read the
speech but as English is not my language
it's just the language I learned at
school I decided to read it because
believe me it's better for you and for
me when the second world war broke out
in 1939 Portugal immediately proclaimed
his neutrality while neighboring Spain
the remaining non-belligerent supported
the Germans in many ways this is not
amazing if you realize that during the
Spanish Civil War General Franco the
Spanish dictator had received assistance
from the Nazis oops I'm sorry okay in in
fact in 1941 a Spanish German invasion
under the codename operation Felix had
been planned to occupy Gibraltar North
Africa and eventually Portugal in order
to expel the British from the
Mediterranean region fortunately it
never took place because Franco realized
that there was a risk of losing the
Spanish Canary Islands to Germany
therefore I raised many obstacles and
demanded huge amounts of money and
lagging the damage this operation could
cost Spain like Franco the Portuguese
Prime Minister Oliveira Salazar had
established an eSATA authoritarian right
government in 1936 though the two
countries followed different policies
Portugal was a poor little country they
that want to stay hot of dwarf death
Salazar adopted an ambiguous attitude
ideologically he was closer to Mussolini
Franco and even to Hitler although as a
devout Catholic he did not agree with it
less police regarding the Jews on one
hand Salazar we should to support the
axis for example he tolerated that
Gestapo kidnapped German anti-nazis such
as the journalist Bertil jakob salomon
captured at the lisbon cafe in broad
daylight on the other hand as he was a
conservative politician he was restrict
restricted by an ancient historical
treaty between Portugal and Britain and
he did not wish to violate and therefore
it could not oppose the Allied powers
Salazar maintained strict neutrality at
least until 1943 it is true that
Portugal delivered to Germany tons and
tons of tungsten turn turpentine cork
and citrus fruits but Portugal did the
same for the Allies the exchange
currency that was used by Nazi Germany
in his trade with foreign countries such
as such as Sweden Switzerland Portugal
Turkey and United States often consisted
of gold bars we know that part of this
gold was stolen from European Jews even
today it remains a controversial issue
whether or not this gold should be
restitute after 1943 when it became
clear that the axis would lose the war
Salazar became more proactive to the
Allied forces he stopped selling junk
stone and other metals to the axis and
leased the hair and naval base in the
Azores to the British risking the German
invasion for the second time however by
this time
have other problems to think about now
let's go back to the spring of 1940 when
the German troops advanced westwards and
Portugal became the last frontier for
refugees for all parts of Europe however
like most neutral countries Portugal did
not want to receive them I do not know
the reasons other countries alleged but
in my opinion Salazar
did not want the refugees to receive
refugees in a period of rationing as
Portugal was not self-sufficient to feed
its own population and depended on other
countries most of them at war of course
there were also political reasons
Salazar Orange were humble and rural you
wish that Portugal would remain forever
the same quiet bucolic country it had
been in his parents time he crossed the
Portuguese border only once in his life
in order to meet Franco at the
Portuguese Spanish frontier all that
Salazar knew about foreign countries was
the information filtered by the censors
and the secret police he had created
this explain why he was always
suspicious of foreigners and ideas
coming from democratic regimes Jews were
not welcome mainly because they were
foreigners not so much for racist or
religious reasons
however refugees come from modern
OpenMind countries they were educated
and cosmopolitan Salazar feared that
they would take over jobs and even worse
it dreaded their influence on the
Portuguese mentality until 1938 the flux
of German immigrant Jews to Portugal was
not very intense and they were were
easily accepted by the Portuguese
authorities this was the case of with
the BLA family however after the
Anschluss then exhale an accession of
Austria by Germany the issuing your visa
started to be carefully controlled at
the outbreak of the war Portugal tried
to stop the entry of
refugees the rules for granting visas
became more and more restrictive and
dependent upon prior authorization by
the Minister Ministry of Foreign Affairs
no visas were allowed to be issued to
Jews stateless persons people with the
Nansen passports or people who could not
return freely to their own country in
theory the borders of Portugal were
close to almost all refugees but things
never happened exactly as planned
and mr. mod Kappa L will tell you the
history of a great man arrested to do so
Simmons who managed to open these doors
in the wake of the fall of Paris in June
1940 Sousa Mendes who was the Portuguese
Consul in Bordeaux decided to disobey
the orders of his government and from
June 11 till June 23rd he frantically
issued visas to war refugees but so the
means was not the only one others such
as - Edwin kinu and Sam Pegler Hilu
did the same in 1944 these two
Portuguese diplomats at the Portuguese
Embassy in Budapest saved about a
thousand Jews faced with arrival in June
1940 of so many people and with the
impossibility of accommodating all in
Lisbon the Portuguese government sent
part of them to the countryside or to
society resorts most of the refugees
were granted a permanent residence in it
aside Kaldur the Chania figure at the
fourth queen beryl Korea or a port
permanent residence meant that they were
not allowed to leave these areas without
prior permission from the Portuguese
secret policy the Portuguese our
traditional hospitable people and even
during wartime
most of them tried to help the refugees
there are there are many testimonies
which confirm that refugees cherished
fond memories of their state however
life was not easy they did not elect
they did not know the language or the
customs and they had to keep in mind the
rules of the secret police
many of them did not possess money or
legal documents and unfortunately there
were people who took advantage of them
despite the dangers and the losses that
each of them had suffered most of the
refugees managed to feel comfortable in
Portugal and could count on the support
of several mainly Jewish organizations
among the Portuguese organizations I
would like to mention the Portuguese Red
Cross the Portuguese is really community
P IC & Co massage the Portuguese
Committee for supporting Jewish refugees
created by P I see the latter was headed
by our goose to disagree a medical
doctor responsible for the Israeli
Hospital and the soup kitchen which
served of over 200 mils each named this
institution and also settled agreements
with physicians pharmacies and stores in
order to provide medicine and clothes
among the international organizations
were the International Red Cross the
World Council of Churches churches the
world
refugees board the Quakers Unitarians
service committee and emergency rescue
committee
the letter was specially active in
helping those who were being persecuted
for intellectual and political reasons
besides these there was also the joint
American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee which financed other
institutions such as comesss elbow and
was in charge of a book of obtaining
visas and the raging sea reservation
then there was also the ayahs Isum an
American Jewish organization that gave
financial support to thousand of Jews
after what had happened in Bordeaux in
June 1940 the restrictions were once
more increased only under the control of
the secret police the PVD very Pro
German visas could be issued
nevertheless refugees continued to
arrive in Portugal especially those who
have oversea visas there was however a
large group of people who cross
border illegally and were helped by
local smugglers or organized and ground
networks in case they were not
politically engaged they prefer to
denounce themselves to the Portuguese
police usually they were arrested for a
few days and afterwards they were they
were sent to a permanent residence in a
decider they had to stay there until
they were allowed to go another country
if they were political engaged they
tried to remain underground until they
had obtained legal documents to go
somewhere else some time later the
government's policy in granting visas to
Jews change a little on the 4th of
February 1943 a confidential Air memoir
was sent by the German government to the
Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in that document Portugal is notified
that German authorities would grant
visas to Portuguese Jews in territories
occupied by Nazis as long as Portugal
would accept them back at the beginning
of the 20th century many Sephardic Jews
who descended from Portuguese families
that had fled from Portugal during the
Inquisition and lived abroad decided to
register themselves as Portuguese
citizens at the Portuguese consulate of
the country in which they were living
some revalidated their registration
every year but others did not
with the country overflowing with
foreigners Portuguese authorities
decided to recognize only those who have
a valid Portuguese nationality records
sadly these deaths and blind bureaucracy
led to dramatic situations and many
Portuguese Jews were assassinated in
concentration camps meanwhile thanks to
Portugal neutrality Lisbon became the
centre of a free Europe to which
everybody flowed and where the battling
nation set up their spy networks and
propaganda actions Lisbon was the hub
through which the wires of explanation
ruler tank Li the government was forced
to allow the free circulation of foreign
newspapers and magazines as well as
specific propagandistic publications
Portuguese society was divided between
those who support Germany and those who
prefer the British the scale tended to
wait more to the side of the Britain and
the Allies this division was felt at all
levels within the government diplomatic
corpse the army and even in the secret
police the free circulation of
newspapers and propaganda the large
number of important people who stay in
Lisbon exiled crown heads members of
former governments bankers businessmen
artists writers movie stars and so on
together with the tungsten business
turned Portugal into a silence as the
British writer Nigel West called it in
Lisbon and Astoria the cosmopolitan
society ressort nearby the capital a
complex web of xpr emerged in which
secret agents who were often double if
not triple agents move around this
violence has inspired writers and felt
film directors
I think everyone remembers the movie
Casablanca where Ingrid Bergman escaping
Nazi persecution says goodbye to a free
burger before boarding the plane to
Lisbon the writers Ian Fleming and
Graham Greene both British agents during
the war used their own experiences in
Lisbon industry to write their famous
novels in September 1941 Ian Fleming
came to Lisbon and he took up residence
in the Pro allied Palacio tel in Estoril
where if frequented the casino one of
the main meeting points for wealthy
refugees and other important people
Samir Leiter inspired by incidents that
had taken place during the war in
history
Fleming published his first novel Casino
Royale in which James Bond is the main
character it seems
that this famous secret agent was based
on the Yugoslav spy duska Popov who
acted as a double agent in Lisbon and
East oral during the war
Graham Greene also stayed also in
Portugal and the who'd have heard of
Juan Pujol Garcia better known under his
codename Garbo and Paul feeds mark a
Czech agent also known as Ostrow these
men wear double agent staying in Astoria
they assault false information to the
app via the Germany military
intelligence the case of Garbo is
remarkable as the false information he
provides from Lisbon deliberately misled
the Germans about the location of the
Allied landing in Normandy in 1944 it
appears that these two double agents may
have helped Graham Greene creating
dreamworld the main character in the
novel our man in Havana
Lisbon lies at the mouth of the Tagus
River during the war there was an
endless coming and going of passenger
ships and cargo vessels apart from
Portuguese ships vessels of different
nationalities made use of Lisbon Arbor
and it became a regular stage for the
exchange of prisoners or diplomats
nevertheless the life of that harbor of
hope was particularly marked by the
departure of ships to Palestine and to
the Americas carrying thousands of
people in search of a new life an
article published in Portugal in January
1941 gives us an account of one of these
moments it was in the middle of the
afternoon the key was full of noise
there was an endless tangle it twist
mass of people and final preparation for
departure war were been made it was a
sir crown of people looking apprehensive
and resigns as they were forced to
depart by faiths leaving behind in some
far-off place the remains of broken
lives and pieces of
their own souls the luggage spelled up
on the wharf were the ruins of those
bitter lives and bore witness of painful
wanderings through out a bloody Europe
this ship the ship slowly pulled away
from the key and some time later was
sailing offshore heading for the new
world leaving Lisbon was a relief but
also a party of excelling sadness as an
Richmond roads the view towered Lisbon's
presented the Arbor the last image of
Europe faded it seems indescribable
beautiful a lost lover is not more
beautiful every sink had given has had
come from these continents thank you
thank you very much margarita for a
beautiful speech our next speaker is
Professor Marian Kaplan Skirball
professor of modern Jewish history at
New York University she is an expert on
German Jewish life in the 19th and 20th
centuries and she has done extensive
research on the refugees who escaped
Nazi occupied Europe towards the
Dominican Republic she is the author of
the making of the Jewish middle class
women family and identity in Imperial
Germany Dominican Haven the Jewish
refugee settlement in Sosua and many
other books her talk today will be on
the subject of the daily lives of those
refugees who escaped through Portugal
and is entitled Jewish refugees and the
port of last resort thank you and hello
you'll see that margarita and I have a
very similar interest but I think it'll
actually they into our talks
interviewee very nicely in the opening
scene of Casablanca which you've now
seen released in 1942 and one of the
five most popular American films ever
the camera zooms in
a map of Casablanca in relation to
Portugal the refugees in Casablanca
quote wait and wait and wait
quote unquote for visas to get to Lisbon
quote the great embarkation point for
the quote freedom of the Americas at the
end of the film it's heroes fly off to
Lisbon most refugees refugees however
reached Lisbon via more torturous paths
fleeing by train car or foot through
France over the Pyrenees to Spain and
then on to Portugal arriving destitute
and forlorn many of them have suffered
social death and violence in their
homelands now they learned that their
new European host nation did not want
them to remain adding one more chain
link to the chain of dehumanization they
bore
how did Jewish refugees experience their
physical and emotional lives and how did
the contingencies of World War two and
the ambiguities of Portuguese policies
affect them how did they adjust to the
travails and sentiments of waiting once
in Lisbon and how did they experience
their day-to-day reality this then is
the story of the actions and feelings of
Jewish refugees caught in a no-man's
land between a lost past and an
unpredictable future before the war
Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria
sought safety in neighboring countries
especially France and Holland or in the
US and Palestine about one third of
German Jews had fled their homeland at
this time the vast majority did not
consider Portugal a poor agricultural
country under another dictatorship an
option even though until 1938 German
citizens could enter Portugal without a
visa most refugees hope to move on to
north or south america in 1938 the year
of the fruitless Evian conference on
refugees and the anti-nazi instigated
pogrom of Cristal nacht
the 75th anniversary of which is coming
this Saturday November 9th more refugees
came although a new law circular number
10
allowed only 30-day tourist visas and
barred aliens and Jews from settling in
Portugal several hundred refugees
arrived between 33 and the fall of
France in June 40 most settled in Lisbon
the capital and a lively port city of
about 600,000 where the majority also of
Portugal's 400 Jewish families about
2,000 people lived the fall of France in
spring 1940 triggered a stampede
southward of tens of thousands of Jews
to avoid the German juggernaut Portugal
at first demonstrated generosity
admitting trans Micron's with even the
slimmest evidence because of Portugal's
relatively liberal practices and illegal
entries a flood of harried and
dispossessed refugees arrived in Lisbon
without the proper papers by July 1940
Lisbon had emerged as the best way
station for Jews to escape continental
Europe for the Americas between 40,000
and 100,000 people reached Portugal in
the year 1942 41 in October 1940
American reporter William Shire logged
in his diary that Lisbon served as quote
the one remaining port on the continent
from which you can get a boat or a plane
to New York that same month the main
German Jewish newspaper in the United
States the Aufbau reported quote knew
Emma Grays from France and from
german-occupied territories arrived
constantly Lisbon is sold out while tens
of thousands soon continued their Exodus
by boat or plane to distant shores
Lisbon housed about 8,000 refugees in
December 1940 most of whom had gotten
into the country with useless visas and
among whom Jews made up about 90% in
early June 41 about 14,000 Jewish
refugees required shelter at that moment
the Nazis directly or indirectly
controlled most of Europe a few weeks
later three point nine million Nazi
troops invaded the Soviet Union Portugal
proclaimed formal neutrality on
September to 1939 one day after Hitler
attacked Poland
thus European Jewish refugees had to
read mixed messages on the one hand Jews
perceived the anti-immigrant sentiments
of the government in the police and poor
refugees had to produce transit visas to
show they plan to move on on the other
hand they also noted the lack of
specifically anti-jewish reactions in
the Portuguese population consciously or
unconsciously aware that Portugal had
driven out Jews or forced them to
convert in the late 15th century Jewish
observers reported that currently
Portugal did not have a Jewish Question
as late as 1941 a Jewish refugee could
assert quote the Portuguese do not
persecute foreigners refugees or Jews
more oving eat over even when Portugal
placed restrictions on immigrants Jewish
newspapers noted that the country still
welcomed Jews with capital or businesses
in addition individual Portuguese
consuls courageously came to the aid of
refugees against the desires of the
government such as Portugal's general
consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes and
you'll hear more about him we should
remember however that had the United
States acted expeditiously in accepting
refugees the Portuguese would likely
have offered temporary visas far more
readily since Portugal officially
accepted trans migrants although
ultimately taking about a hundred thirty
thousand refugees before the end of
forty one within this period the US had
left a hundred ten thousand available
quota slots unfulfilled the refugees
experienced a rollercoaster of emotions
as they coped and waited to journey on
their previous ordeals with fascism and
escape and the continuing hardships of
family and friends reverberate it in
addition the frightening process of
having come with the right or wrong
papers haunted them quote there were
things that were now in our blood like
sort of a
poison they were called work permits
residence permits identity cards
temporary safe conduct gasoline rations
exit visas transit visas and entry visas
reactions to the exigencies of daily
life the highs and lows of refugee
existence included very warm feelings
toward Portuguese individuals terror of
the secret police camaraderie with other
refugees as well as an utter sense of
isolation in particular the refugees
having fled their homelands leaving
family and friends behind mourned their
losses they experienced the torment of
not knowing what their loved ones faced
or worse of suspecting what they faced
like those refugees who came in the
1930s the later refugees of the 1940s
appreciated the compassion of the
Portuguese which made a lasting
impression after the fall of France many
arrived flat broke as Alma Mahler where
fall tried to pay her portuguese hotel
bill the clerk quote seemed to sense
that it would leave me short of cash
never mind paying the bill he said I'll
advance it for you and you can send me
the money from New York other report
others report in receiving fruit and
flowers upon their arrival from
residents of small towns one woman on a
train heading to Lisbon and obviously
starving Ida young girl eating bread the
conductor observing her glance offered
her a whole loaf of bread and gave her a
place to lie down in first class and if
Portuguese citizens wondered about the
unusual dress or behavior of refugees
especially women or the fact that
refugees lingered in cafes since few
locals knew of the work restrictions
placed by their government they didn't
let on indeed that refugees could not
compete for employment with Portuguese
citizens
surely helped the relationship between
those groups also the JDC a major
American Jewish philanthropy you may
know as the joint supported the refugees
and also recognized the friendliness of
the Portuguese people and the
cooperation
of the Salazar government the New York
Times as well confirmed Portuguese
kindness at every level on December 15
1944 turd James Reston who may be a name
familiar to all of you noted quote the
Portuguese people have taken the
refugees into their homes and given them
closed for many arrived with nothing but
what they wore at the time and the
government has consistently extended
their visas to allow them to remain here
until new homes can be found it should
be noticed however that just as the
refugees praised the Portuguese for
their hospitality and kindness they
feared the Portuguese secret police
indeed the refugees generally separate
the kind Portuguese from the harsher
Portuguese government and police in
their minds and in their memories this
self-deception notwithstanding as late
as 1944 even the German embassy probably
to its consternation noted the absence
of anti-semitism in Portugal as the
Jewish refugees tried to make sense of
their new environment they felt
physically but also psychologically in
transit most support achill is a
Waystation instead of Lisbon's beauty
and special attractions the harassed
newcomers focused their psychic energy
psychic energy unquote freedom and peace
only one more step and Europe with its
oppression and hatred lay behind us they
no longer concerned themselves with
bombing raids blackouts or food
rationing as they entered Lisbon Felix
Bauer freed from a Swiss internment camp
felt quote an aura of peace Lisbon was
again according to him the first place
that was normal in two years it was a
place with civilization we were in
seventh heaven there certainly most
refugees needed financial and logistical
assistance local and international aid
organizations that margarita already
mentioned took on these tasks starting
in the summer of 40 Lisbon ranked second
only to Geneva in the amount of Jewish
organizational activity many Jewish
organizations supported refugees in a
spirit of solidarity with Jews in
trouble
but also to prevent them from burdening
the state all of them to some extent
provided sustenance and shelter and also
attempted to find visas and ship passage
always negotiating with the Portuguese
and American governments also the
Portuguese Jewish community used its own
political influence to protect the
refugees and help them obtain transit
visas
despite sunny peaceful and relative
safety where refugees lived in the small
towns and in Lisbon they continued to
feel intense dislocation a crisis of
identity and steep drastic downward
mobility for the most part they had lost
their middle-class existence including
their homes their jobs and their
previous lives quote we lost touch with
the soil we were cut from the security
of bourgeois life with no work no home
no homeland some had no passports or
valid identity papers or permission to
reside even temporarily in Portugal
their languages their friends and their
relatives remain behind
now they stood unprotected by
citizenship and bereft of psychological
belonging these wounds festered as did
the economic dislocation of being a
refugee most dependent on Jewish
Philanthropies they are quote bewildered
looks and the condition of their clothes
announced their plate still crumbling
clothes proved the least difficult
problem crucially they had lost a sense
of self Hannah Arendt
a refugee herself captured this moment
quote once we were somebodies about whom
people cared we were loved by friends
and even known by landlords as paying
our rent regularly Aaron summed up the
feelings of exasperation of a
middle-aged man who had appeared before
countless committees in order to be
saved
and finally exclaimed in exasperation
nobody knows here who I am he mourned
for his previous identity and his former
place in the world and yet clinging to
one's old status
while watching it disappear caused grave
disorientation frustration and sadness
these identity crises sometimes merged
with what later generations have called
post-traumatic stress disorder a type of
intense uncontrollable anxiety that can
occur after one has seen or experienced
an event involving the threat of injury
or death even when they didn't suffer
the extremes of PTSD many refugees
unable to work supported and guided like
children felt discontent and despondent
observers noted frayed tempers and one
aid worker agonized about the fragile
emotional state of the supplicants quote
since they are near the edge some go off
the handle in my office driven to
despair some also committed suicide
Arthur Koestler the writer tried to
commit suicide there and another refugee
recalled suicides when the American
Consul turned people down Yan allistic
another writer believed many of the
refugees were often close to suicide
Arendt writing in 1943 about the refugee
condition also dwelled on suicide fears
of spreading war ranked highest among
the worries the thought that Hitler
might invade Portugal gnawed at
terrified Jews although they really did
not experience the war except for
headlines in an assortment of foreign
language newspapers many in Lisbon
people like handsaw believed that the
Jews were deceiving themselves
Hitler had occupied almost all of Europe
why should he spare Portugal he
continues we had to ensure a passage
before it was too late even in a small
seaside town outside Lisbon where the
Barinholtz family quote went to the
beach every day
they kept maps on the wall following the
armies in the war and the refugees
didn't harbor exaggerated fears as the
suspicions and behaviors of Americans
they're a test weights still sharp of
the Unitarian Service Committee and
Lisbon heard that 60,000 Nazi Panzers
stood at the Spanish
order in the summer of 1940 William
Shire is diary in October 40 read quote
for some time I've been getting
information from military circles that
Hitler is making ready to go into Spain
in order to get gibraltar the
apprehension of jews and portugal made
sense between 1940 and the end of 1942
both jews and portuguese only show
relief showed relief when the Allies
landed in North Africa in November 42
quote the palpable fear of a Nazi march
through Spain into Portugal lifted as a
Portuguese put it quote Germany no
longer seemed invincible getting through
the day took determination nevertheless
refugees prioritized the search for
basic shelter and food but leaving
Portugal due both to portuguese
insistence and to the refugees own
desire to leave europe and start a new
life dominated their actions lodgings
ran the gamut from small rundown rooms
to more spacious apartments private
families and pensions also offer
temporary accommodations sick adler
found a quote pleasant guesthouse in
downtown Lisbon where he enjoyed food
including rice and wine crucially aid
organisations subsidized the rent bills
and the food bills one man remembered
many versions of sardine dinners because
quote that was the main affordable food
and others trekked up the Lisbon Hills
at noon to receive a free hot lunch and
you saw a photo of that a moment ago in
order to acquire proper papers Karla
Pecola and her husband turned their room
into an office while Alex went out to
quote visit consulates police
commissioners travel agencies in search
of a million things travel permits proof
of citizenship money exchange ship
passage and so on she pounded out
letters on the typewriter addressed to
friends and relatives especially in New
York with requests that went from a
simple testimonial authenticated by a
notary to the all-important affidavit
that would place the responsibility for
our future on the shoulders of whoever
acted as our guarantor these repetitive
errands to consulates and
organizations demanded time and
attention seeking extensions to remain
in Portugal or new visas they waited on
endless lines and here we recording
Erica man again but a different one a
different quote on a short truth on a
short trip to Lisbon in the fall of 1940
after having acquired a visa from
England she still had to appear at the
police office for foreigners she walked
8 minutes to the end of the line the
line at the American Embassy seemed to
have quote no end at all the lucky ones
made it into the waiting rooms of
various consulates those vestibules of
heaven and hell disoriented and in a
complete loss as the next step to take
refugees stood bewildered and
heartbroken as consuls turned them away
while waiting refugees faced a jungle of
consulates police stations and
government offices bureaucratic red tape
loneliness homesickness and withering
Universal indifference Alex
commented quote one day someone will
tell the story of these waiting rooms it
will be too late for those who fell by
the wayside but it might bring catharsis
to those who survived Karla his wife
summed up I love this quote it would
have taken the pen of a Kafka to depict
the world of visas in all its
surrealistic absurdity that of a dust is
key to render the nightmare of the
petitioners struggle for survival after
days of wrestling with consoles and
charities refugees spent anxious moments
at the post office waiting for letters
from loved ones letters from war-torn
Europe intermittent and censored not
only underlined the deep connections
among families and friends they provided
a lifeline a desperate attempt at human
solidarity letters urgently and
straightforwardly pleaded for food from
Lisbon and clearly the refugees sent
abundant food parcels sardines ranked
among the most nutritious food gifts
sent eastward by the Lisbon refugees
labels from packages sent from Lisbon to
individuals in Theresia shot the ghetto
concentration camp near Prague indicate
that canned fish and kin
foods made up the majority of contacts
contents and a notebook and letter kept
by one refugee in Lisbon listed dozens
of food parcels that he had sent to
friends languaging languishing in the
curse camp in Vichy France between
nineteen forty and forty one chocolate
topped his list of foods followed by
sardines cheese and meat the highs and
lows the rollercoaster of emotions
alerts us to the refugees anguish and
moments of relief in hope and despair
they sought bonds with other refugees
they constructed temporary spaces
communities where they could evoke the
one milieu that might make them feel
better a cafe culture in which they
could share impressions and feelings
with others going through the same
upheavals when refugees finished their
recurring visits to consulates and
organizations and shipping offices where
they couldn't help running into each
other they visited cafes the refugees
sat in cafes bridging national ethnic
and gender differences for the moment
these tables even bridged class
differences the cafes created a social
space of mutual experience a kind of
diasporic homeland because they had left
the landscape urban feature and
knowledge of belonging to their nations
behind they resorted to the only public
space that felt private and that they
could afford the cafe emerged as a new
transnational and temporary home for a
vast variety of European Jewish refugees
this corner of their new urban landscape
offered a setting where they could quote
speak the language we hungered for and
we're quote one heard more of German and
French than Portuguese an ephemeral
world of cafe identities allowed most
Jews a semblance of normalcy a place to
remember who they once were and feel
recognized by others from their previous
worlds no longer simple sites of Culture
and sociability Lisbon cafes offered
indispensable locations in which to
exchange advice and rumors about the war
and about possible visas the refugees
wreak
nice each other immediately and quickly
developed relationships talking about
quote problems family anxiety what
happened to other members of the family
they shared honks and empathy they
bonded quickly creating a temporary
solidarity the writer Herman Caston
endowed the cafe with symbolic meaning
quote in exile the cafe became home in
homeland Church and parliament the cafe
becomes the only site of continuity
i sat in cafes in dozens of lands of
exile but it was always the same cafe I
only have to sit in a cafe and I feel at
home
Yan Liu Stig described the cafe more
practically the emigrants sit in cafes
with hollow cheeks and rimmed eyes stick
their heads together and talk day and
night day and night
once I says with a sigh visa another
smiles ironically and bitterly visa the
third gives a long excited speech but
one understands only Visa Visa Visa
stretching their cups of coffee for
hours women and men found solace among
people in the same situation as they
mourn the loss as they had experienced
frequently enough the cafes offered more
than solace or food sometimes one could
have acquired black-market boat tickets
there they sat quote hatching little
plots to get precious tickets as Valerie
mark you grew more and more desperate to
find a ship ticket he knew he had to
resort to go-betweens
found in the cafes and they carry their
offices in their pockets they asked for
trouble double or triple fare even more
if they could Cafe rumors further
provided hints as to which shipping
agencies had come across extra tickets
the cafes these international spaces in
which the sexes mixed and families
including children found seats underwent
a radical transformation from Portuguese
male spaces in those years young
northern and Eastern European women very
much part of the cafe scene in their own
hometowns now sat in Lisbon cafes
chatting gesturing writing smoking and
doing Neil work some even more pants and
most went without
something only prostitutes did in Lisbon
the cafe offered a neutral ground for
them to feel at home and preserve their
customs quickly refugee women noticed
that Portuguese women did not frequent
cafes at all and that one Cafe refused
to seat unless courted women at night in
fact another an author ilza Loza wrote
that women who went out alone after
dinner could be taken for prostitutes
Portuguese observers according to age
and class found refugee women's
behaviors either outrageous or
fascinating the Portuguese police also
ticket it and find women for wearing
French two-piece bathing suits cafes
also presented opportunities for new
fleeting friendships among refugees most
refugees shared the same situation all
needed similar documents the cafe
provided that meeting space but these
must have been somewhat strained
relationships they depended on each
other but they were also competing with
each other for the scarce visas and
shipping space commiseration vied with
envy
erika mun observed that while cafe goers
all rejoiced for a lucky woman about to
embark for the u.s. they were quote also
jealous of her once the refugee acquired
the visa repetitive repetitive errands
to shipping agencies ensue ensued ship
tickets or the lack of them caused grave
concern hana our entry said the whole
process of emigration reminded her of
the german children's game mensch a
guardian ached akin to our games sorry
just as one's pawn neared the goal
someone would bump it back to start when
the Romanian writer Mark who approached
clerks and the steam should come
steamship company to buy a ticket for
the u.s. in February 41 quote they
looked at me in surprise as though I had
come to ask for their daughter's hands
I wanted something quite normal and I am
regarded as a madman in Portugal the
refugees felt increasingly perplexed and
stymied in February 41 the Aufbau noted
that refugees with u.s. visas have been
waiting four months and here meaning in
Lisbon one can't understand why America
doesn't send a larger ship at least once
a month
refugees visiting Lisbon's cook travel
agency longing for any spot on any ship
wondered how the huge US liner Manhattan
could advertise for a Hawaiian cruise
when people desperately sought to escape
Europe in April of that year Life
magazine displayed photos of refugees
jamming into the American export line
office although tickets had been sold
out until February of the following year
obstructions notwithstanding by mid 42
most had managed to emigrate yet even on
board that coveted ship and this is
going to be a funny ad margarita and I
didn't speak but it's the same ending as
she has almost yet even on board the
coveted ship countless memories wanted
their joy fourteen-year-old Mara
Vishniac the daughter of the famous
photographer felt a deep sadness as she
realized that fleeing also meant
abandoning Europe Jewish writer eigen
tilling er watched the port of Lisbon
disappear and evoked quote the most
beautiful scenes from the European past
past baroque and gothic I saw the towers
of Prague the sweet Austrian landscape
Paris a whole life spent in Europe
freedom could not be other than
bittersweet thank you
[Applause]
our third speaker this afternoon is dr.
Mordechai Paul DL currently on faculty
at Yeshiva University and Toro college
he was for around 25 years the director
of the Righteous among the Nations
program at Yad Vashem in Israel he is an
expert on Holocaust rescue and was
himself rescued by a righteous Gentile
during the war he is a champion of the
memory of our esteemed de Sousa Mendes
when I invited him to join the Advisory
Council of the Sousa Mendes Foundation
three years ago he immediately said yes
saying I will support any effort to
honor the memory of Sousa Mendes if any
of you know of a righteous Gentile who
deserves to be honored by Yad Vashem but
hasn't yet been this is the man you
should speak to Professor Paul deals
talked today is entitled Aris teeta's de
Sousa Mendes disobedience in the cause
of humanity
[Applause]
if I ever get to live them under the
first places I will visit some of these
kev-kev
cafeterias that you mentioned maybe I'll
have some kind of experience there well
good afternoon
here is my talk it was a momentous event
without precedent in Portugal's history
on March 13 1988 the Parliament and
Lisbon officially threw out the verdict
against a former diplomat who had since
died and had been punished for
disobeying orders from above by granting
thousands of portuguese transit visas to
choose refugees in world war ii the man
was cleared of all charges and his name
was restored to the walls of the
diplomatic corps the vote was unanimous
born in 1895 into an aristocratic
Portuguese family
Aristides de Sousa Mendes entered his
country's Diplomatic Service and was
posted in various places in August 1938
he was appointed consul general in
Bordeaux France two years later in June
1940 Bava door was flooded through
thousands of refugees among them many
Jews who desperately wished to leave a
defeated France and escape the water on
continent of Europe via Spain and
Portugal in advance of the German army
whose troops were within striking
distance of Bordeaux Mendes his home
country was then ruled by a dictator
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar who also
served as foreign minister and whose
regime increasingly exhibited fascist
style behavior already earlier in
November 1939 two months after the start
of World War two Mendes was instructed
by his government that no visas were to
be issued to certain categories of
people
and especially Jews without prior
approval by the foreign ministry when it
was learned in Lisbon that Mendez was
disregarding these restrictions in some
individual cases he was reminded in
April 1940 not to repeat these
irregularities and warned and I quote
that any new fault or infraction and
this regard will be considered
disobedience and give rise to
disciplinary proceedings and of course
Mendes evidently attached no importance
to this warning for he continued to
issue transit visas to certain small
groups of people acts that were recorded
in his file back in Lisbon then in May
1940 persons fleeing ahead of the
advancing German army Mendes during his
nightly rounds of the refugee
encampments on the street of Bordeaux
met rabbi Haim Kouga a refugee from
Belgium and invited him to the consulate
which also served as the consuls
residence after listening to the rabbi's
travails Mendez offered rabbi Kruger and
his family transit visas but only to
them the rabbi however turned down this
friendly gesture he would not take
advantage of his position and leave his
brethren behind parked on the streets
installed by a rabbi Kouga in a post-war
account which incidentally was written
in four words in Yiddish I thanked him
for the general generosity and returned
to our brothers stranded outside I then
went back to him and explained that
there was only one avenue of escape to
give all of us visas to Portugal this
presented Mendez with a moral challenge
of incalculable proportions a month
earlier on May 24th before the flood of
the refugees had turned
into an avalanche Mendes had asked
Salazar the it was the foreign minister
and leader of Portugal for instructions
on how to deal with the refugees seeking
Portuguese transit visas the answer
received was a plain and simple no to
pawn to his decision Mendes secluded
himself for several days in his bedroom
where he was heard tossing and turning
and occasionally groaning his family
wondered what had become of him as he
alternated between states a great
agitation and self-imposed silence his
son Pedro Nuno noticed this change and
Pedro says all of a sudden my father
seemed terribly worried as though he had
been struck down by a violent disease
another sound
Sebastiao remembered the change in his
father's eyes and here his eyes had blue
circles around him his hair had turned
completely gray as white as snow almost
after three days of isolation Mendez
announced he had made up his mind as
recalled by his son peddle Nuno and I
quote my father gotta get up apparently
recovering his serenity he was full of
punch he washed shaved and got rest then
he strode out of his bedroom flung open
the door to the Chancellery and
announced in a law in a loud voice from
now on I am giving everyone visas then
our father told us that he had heard a
voice that of his conscious of God which
dictated to him what course of action he
should take and that everything was
perfectly clear in his mind it was June
1940 a week before French Prime Minister
Paul Reynaud resigned and turned over
the reins of government to marshal
Marechal Philippe pétain who told the
nation that France had capitulated to
the Germans
during this momentous interval a chaotic
situation prevailed in Bordeaux as all
expected the German army soon to be
within the gates of the city large
crowds besieged the farm consulates
especially the Portuguese consul general
the following day Mendes began to sign
visas with no questions asked
consular secretary Jose Seabra tried to
dissuade him from this new course in
flagrant violation of instructions from
above for the sake of your wife and
children please stop you're ruining your
life and your family but Mendes paid no
attention to this it was the start of
one of the greatest rescue operations
carried out by a single individual again
a single individual as also reported by
rob a cougar I sat with him a full day
without food and sleep and helped him
stamp thousands of passports with
Portuguese visas in other words rob a
cougar himself were stamping the
Portuguese visas Mendes explained to his
staff my government has denied all
applications for visas to any refugees
but I cannot allow these people to die
many are Jews and our Constitution says
that the religion or politics of a
foreigner shall not be used to deny him
refuge in Portugal I have decided to
follow this principle I am going to
issue a visa to anyone who asks for it
regardless of whether or not he can pay
even if I am dismissed
I can only act as a Christian as my
conscious dictates my desires to be with
God against man rather than man against
God as the word spread outside a long
line of people strong outside the
consulate anxiously awaiting their turn
to have their documents stamped with the
Portuguese transit visa as also
witnessed by the council's nephew Cesare
Mendes inside the dining room to draw
and the council's offices we're at the
disposal of the refugees dozens of them
of both sexes all ages and mainly old
and sick people they were coming and
going pregnant women who did not feel
well and people who had seen their
relatives die on the highways killed by
air fire they slept on chairs on the
floor on the rugs the situation with out
of control even the council's offices
were crowded with dozens of refugees who
were dead tired after waiting for days
and nights on the street when men
discerned that sorry I'm Machado the
council in Bayonne located on the French
Spanish border a city under the
jurisdiction of the borough council it
was refusing visas to refugees there
Mendez hurried there to bring the
council into line with his new policy he
lectured the Vice Council Manuel Vieira
Braga he told him why do you not help
these poor refugees how would you like
to find yourself your wife and children
in the same circumstances as refugees
you say you're here to carry out the
instructions you receive from your
superiors very well I instilled the
council at Bordeaux and consequently
your superior I therefore order you to
pass out as many visas as may be needed
Mendez even decided to help refugees
with crossing with the crossing itself
and directed some to avoid the direct
route between hand/eye and France and
alone in Spain and instead use a side
road father uphill on the assumption
that the border guards would create less
problems since they probably had not yet
been told not to honor the visas issued
by Mendes as the Portuguese government
had most likely requested by then Mendes
knew that he was in deep trouble with
his own government indeed infuriated at
menaces insubordination dictator Salazar
ordered
one of his aides Armando C meow to go
immediately to Bob to be on to see what
his own eyes what exactly what's
happening there and to report directly
to Pedro Pereira the Portuguese
ambassador in Spain at the same time on
June 23 1940 Salathe took the first
punitive steps by stripping mendes of
most of his authority and in particular
the right to issue visas the next day
salazar ordered menaces immediately
called to portugal a day later the
spanish ambassador to Spain I mean the
Portuguese ambassador to Spain Pereira
accompanied by two aides met Mendes and
began to berate him orders must be
obeyed
they lectured him the dis Mendes
responded not if those orders are
incompatible with any human feelings
returning to Madrid after his encounter
with Mendes Pereira related that when he
met Mendes in Bayonne he was struck by
demands so-called erratic behavior in
Ferreira's words this man was disturbed
and not in his right mind he appeared
not to have the slightest idea of the
enormity of the acts committed I had no
doubt in stating my conviction that the
set council had lost the use of his
faculties this is a sad reflection but
during the Nazi period to be a
humanitarian one had to be so to speak
out of one's mind more trouble awaited
wendice after his return to Portugal on
July 8 1941 August 2nd Mendes was handed
an indictment which included charges
related to both the period before June
17 when he issued visas to individual
persons without prior approval by the
foreign ministry and to the period after
that date when he issued thousands of
visas to fleeing Jews
he was accused of having acted in a way
to quote that was dishonorable for
Portugal visa vie the Spanish and German
authorities and of quote on August 12
1940 Mendes submitted his defense
against these charges in a 20-page
document regarding the many people who
were given visas Mendez emphasized it
was indeed my aim to save all those
people whose suffering was indescribable
some had lost their spouses others had
no news of missing children others had
seen their loved ones succumb to the
german bombings which occurred everyday
and did not spare the terrified refugees
this filled me with commiseration for so
much misfortune add to this the
spectacle of hundreds of children who
we're with their parents and shared
their sufferings in anguish because of
the lack of accommodation this multitude
slept in the streets and public squares
in all weather how many suicides and how
many acts of despair must have taken
place all this could not fail to impress
me vividly I Who am the head of a large
family and better than others understand
what it means not to be able to protect
one's family
hence my attitude inspired solely and
exclusively by the feelings of altruism
and generosity Mendez ended his defence
by stating that I could not
differentiate between nationalities as I
was obeying dictates of humanity that
distinguish between neither race nor
nationality countering this ambassador
Pereira repeated before the board his
previous conviction that the accused has
evidently gone out of his mind I got the
impression of a deeply disturbed man who
was not in his normal state there was
not the slightest doubt in my mind when
I told the Spanish
authorities that the council had taken
leave of his senses the disciplinary
board the Disciplinary boards the ruling
was that Mendez was guilty of
insubordination and premeditated
unacceptable behavior it also rejected
the extenuating circumstances
surrounding the refugee situation at the
time at the same time it recommended
that the punishment should be limited to
demotion in rank
Zara's Ahava however decided on a
stiffer punishment on October 30 1940 he
ruled that Mendes should be dismissed
from active service for one year on half
pay then be forced to retire and
forefeet any benefits due to him after
his long diplomatic service to his
country after his dismissal Mendez
reportedly told her by Kouga whom he met
again in Lisbon if thousands of Jews can
suffer because of one catholic in other
words hitler then surely it is permitted
for one catholic to suffer for so many
jews he added i could not have acted
otherwise and i therefore accept all
that has befallen me with love with a
family of 12 children to feed and
without any other income Mendez was
forced to sell his estate in cabañas the
viriato soon he was reduced to poverty
and he died in 1954 a broken-hearted man
two of his children were held by highest
a jewish wealth organization to move to
the United States the man himself seemed
to have been forgotten in 1966 with
Portugal still ruled by Salazar Yad
Vashem declared arrest in Azusa Mendez
posthumously Righteous among the Nations
in 1987 Mario Suarez president of a now
democratic Portugal bowing to pressures
by children of the late diplomat
and concerned organizations awarded
Mendez the order of Liberty a year later
the Lisbon Parliament took the final
step of restoring Menace's name to the
roster of Portugal's diplomatic corps
subsequently the government ordered
damages to be paid to his family
presently many streets and secondary
schools in Portugal via the man's name
and in 1994 the city of Bordeaux where
Mendes made his fateful decision to help
the refugees paid him tribute by
inviting Portugal's residential rs.2 in
Vale
a statue of Mendes on a major roadway at
the Rio novo Vera who served as a
minister in the solidus government
stated that the significance of Mendes
action is that he attacked a principle
which had hitherto been absolute that
orders must be obeyed the Nuremberg
Tribunal established that people are
also responsible to obey certain
principles and that they cannot act
against human values the great quality
of Sousa Mendes was that he obeyed the
values of mankind so stated mr. Marrero
in 1985 19 years after his recognition
of the righteous realizing that for some
unexplainable reason no one of either
the Mendes family nor a representative
of his so many thousand beneficiaries
had come to plant a tree in his name in
the Avenue of the righteous at Yad
Vashem and fearing that this special and
unique garden would be filled to
capacity retrieve by other well
deserving righteous have indeed happened
later I took the unusual step of myself
planting a tree in a place that would
afford visitors to conveniently gather
next to the tree bearing the name of
Aristides de Sousa Mendes
and for them to reflect on the man's
sacrifice in the cause of a
humanitarianism without parallel thank
you
[Applause]
like to invite our speakers to come up
here and at this point I would also like
to invite up my good friend Louis
Philippe Mendes president of the Sousa
Mendes Foundation and grandson of aresty
de Sousa Mendes
[Applause]
put these on okay three wonderful
presentations okay so I'm going to ask
some questions of each of our panelists
and then we'll open it up to the floor
so first of all I'd like to turn to
Louis Philippe and I'd like you to talk
a little bit about your family's
experience about your father and the
impact of Salazar's punishment on your
family and then a related question of
how does it feel today to see the
appreciation of the families of the visa
recipients and the entire Jewish
community I would say for what your
grandfather did Thank You Olivia it's an
open question and I'll try to have the
best answer I could so I'm from the I'm
the grandson of a Lisa D'Souza Mendez my
father was the second-last of a 14
children family and I received a Sousa
Mendes was married to Angelina my
grandmother they both decided my
grandmother always supported my
grandfather in his decision and she
stood strong with him that's important
to bring up at this point and then so
all across those from 1940 the Jewish
community has always been strong support
for our family from those days versus
from this point you know at my point in
the third generation looking being
backwards I could only say that there's
a and the present age taters brought it
up as well there is a natural friendship
beyond bar barriers between the
Portuguese and the Jewish community and
born and in Montreal from
french-canadian mother I hadn't had the
pleasure to know too much about the
Portuguese culture because my father
just turned the page and my mother she
naturally didn't speak Portuguese and so
the in my position right now and with
the the support of always this Jewish
community that elected me as a large
part for as a president of the Sousa
Mendes today is foundation today I could
only say that from all across that story
the Jewish community has been strong
with us and that it's a beautiful story
to look into can you tell a little bit
about your family history about how your
father got to Canada and a little bit of
why he had to leave Portugal and that's
those kinds of things sure my father has
written a beautiful testimony it's
available on the site of our foundation
so he was 12 years old when in 1940
before that a well he's at was part of
he was born in the TUI in Spain while
his father was working there and he
joined at number thirteen of this family
all the kids were born in different
countries around the world and they were
a happy bunch they lived 10 years in
Belgium just before going to to Bordeaux
so most of his childhood my father was
happy in Bordeaux and a as a matter of
fact here in this room there's a friend
of him in those days Roger vva who was
in as a in grammar school with my father
and it's really amazing to meet him
today for the first time so after those
years in Bordeaux and Belgium he at 12
years old the my father crossed
line between happy childhood and
dramatic adult life so he stayed with
his parents until he was 20 years old
and then he took the boat to cross to
Canada to Quebec where there was a
friend of the family who was at the head
of a université laval and in Quebec City
and there after spending those nine
years with his parents helping them out
my father wrote down that it was their
hardest day of his life to to be on that
ship and to see his father on the
turnaround and leave from the port so so
in Montreal he started his life you
really turned the turned the page and he
concentrated in this profession and he
he was always in touch with his brothers
and sisters because they had that that
mission from their grandfather and their
grandmother their father I'm sorry to
make sure that one to lead constructive
lives and not the other hand to make
sure that one day everyone would know
that the the the the way that those
refugees were saved was the action of a
proud Portuguese who obeyed the
Portuguese Constitution and his
conscience this so so my that generation
of my father really went through their
life struggling hard and they finally
succeeded in in their their in their
mission in both of their mission but
they suffered a lot I'll stop here if
you are there if I could go on that
please
okay I'm going to turn now to my
immediate left to Mordecai Paul DL could
you please explain the difference
between the different kinds of visas
because all of these refugees needed all
kinds of visas in their passports how
come some of them are just considered
bureaucratic formalities whereas others
were acts of rescue can you explain the
difference okay
there were several kinds of visas you
know first of all you need it that's
yours
what you need it is what is known as an
end visa an end visa means a destination
visa you had to show that you had a
place
way to go as your final destination so
most people prefer to of course to come
to countries like the United States or
Canada or to other Latin American
countries and that was very difficult to
get an end visa from these countries
once you had an end visa then you needed
a transit visa because you had to
transit to those countries okay
so you had to go through Spain or
Portugal or via Turkey or via the Soviet
you of Y whatever country would lead you
on the way to your destination so that's
the transit visas and that's where what
Portugal came in and Spain came in and
Turkey came in later on and Switzerland
and some other countries so people were
trying to get us with the transit visas
as well as end visas some people were
lucky to have a British certificate to
go to Palestine under the white paper
there was a certain very small number of
people that could go to Palestine so
they could get a visa to go to LFC soil
to Palestine and then also they needed
some transit visas to get there and then
you needed what is called an exit permit
exit visa in French it's known as let's
say passe in other words if you were in
France and you're trying to get the
United States and if you're lucky enough
to get an American visa
getting an affidavit from a sponsor I
mean it's it's a whole mishegoss really
and you you already have a transit visa
then you had to go to the French police
station and get what is known as a let's
say passe or an exit visa allowing you
to leave the country based on if you
police record was clear and you paid all
your taxes so you have the exit visa
basically the transit visa and the end
visas these are the three the three holy
principle the Trinity the Trinity visas
that you need it in total to get out and
it was for most people I'll just give
one example of the the father of Anna
Frank Otto Frank Otto Frank before world
war before World War one was here in the
United States you worked for part time
in Macy's I went back to Germany yes and
then it will go one who served in the
German army and then after Hitler came
to power he moved to Holland when he was
in Holland and fearing that a war would
break out he tried to get the United
States he had some several cousins here
and he wrote to them and he wanted to
get a visa an American visa and the
cousins were told to go to certain
immigration officers that to fill out
statements that the otto frank and his
family would not become a public charge
and the immigration authorities gave him
a hard time because these days distant
cousins didn't have enough income and
enough savings in the bank and instead
ejobs so it took years and years and
years and finally finally they succeeded
in getting the affidavit which was
approved by the state department and
otto frank was told he could get a visa
but by the time he got this notification
he was in Holland in Hollandsworth
occupied by by by the Germans and the
United States was already at war with
Germany after December 41 he was told
you have to get to Portugal to the
nearest American consulate in order to
get the visa actually the American visa
how did you get to to Portugal via
occupied Belgium and occupied France and
so he decided to go into hiding
in Amsterdam and there Anna Frank wrote
her diary so for many people it came too
late I'm going to turn to margarita and
I'm going to ask you about something you
briefly touched upon in your talk and
that is the gold the Nazi gold is it
true that there are still over 400 tons
of Nazi gold in the bank of Portugal and
what does the Portuguese government plan
to do about it to your knowledge it's a
very difficult question I have
absolutely no idea but and as we talked
before I asked a friend if it's true is
the gold bar exists and I suppose not I
suppose that the golden bars gold bars
coming from from Germany was spending
during the colonial war the Portuguese
colonial colonial war so there are gold
bars in Portugal but not from this time
and I don't I really don't know what the
Portuguese government intend to do sorry
maybe it's it's useful that Portugal
asked Germany to pay because this gold
became from Germany and the German had
stole this code from the Jews so it was
very important if Germany restitute this
this money just one more comment there
were also other ambassadors that we
spent Spanish diplomats in various
stations who issued transit visas so
people could go through Spain so several
are now being examined by Yad Vashem so
some have already been recognized and
one of them was the Spanish Consul
General in Bordeaux
Papa de there callejón and I I believe
his son who is here in the United States
is here among in the audience are you
here mr. hoppity Kalyan No
okay so this Spanish diplomat issued a
transit visa to go to Spain and the
assumption is that the person who got
the transit visa then could go to
Mendez's office and get a Portuguese
transit visas some of them she simply
took the Portuguese transit visas and
came to the Spanish border and they were
allowed to go through others had also a
Spanish transit visas and this gentleman
Papa de fallar jaan was also honored by
Yad Vashem in your talk you focused on
the Jewish refugee experience in Lisbon
but can you talk a little bit about
other talents I mean my family for
example was in queen brahne I mean other
families were elsewhere yeah I just
wanted to follow up a moment again on
the visa the situation because it was
crucial the story of Walter Benjamin is
a very good one in that sense he had the
entry permit to go to the United States
he had the visa to be in Portugal he at
the visa to cross Spain but he didn't
have the French exit visa and when he
got to the border and the police stopped
him that night he committed suicide
so in fact every one of these visas was
sort of a lifeline and if you didn't
have them all you were in big trouble
unless you could sneak across the border
which many people did but that was luck
getting back to the question I was asked
the Portuguese government didn't want
all the refugees to wind up in Lisbon it
was getting real it was sold out as I
said and it was really really hard to
place them and also I think for
surveillance reasons they wanted them
separate as spread out so they put them
into an margarita mentioned this some of
the resorts you saw the red dots on the
map that she showed you and those were
small villages fishing villages mostly
with beaches and there were significant
small Jewish communities in those places
and
one of the things I discovered was I was
very interested since the Portuguese in
general was so kind to the Jews I was
interested well did it go beyond that
were there any friendships and it turns
out that in the smaller villages people
did get to know each other and did
become somewhat more friendly
whereas in Lisbon they hung out with
each other because there was such a big
group of them so the small villages had
some had they all had philanthropies
helping them there were there was a
library in one there was a little
synagogue I I wouldn't call it a
synagogue there was a room where people
went for prayer services
there were also cafes cafes a big deal
there and I'm trying to think what other
part of the question do you they lived
in little usually little apartments or
in if there were individuals they lived
in boarding houses but families were
generally given small apartments
apartment could be two rooms but that
was still you were sort of on your own
but didn't they have to get permission
from the secret police to even leave yes
they they were those were called fixed
residences thank you for reminding me
there were those are fixed residences
which meant that if they wanted to get
those visas that we've been talking
about are those ship tickets they had to
get to Lisbon so they needed permission
each time and whereas today it might be
an hour to get to one or two of those
places in those days it was a long trek
and they needed the permission so on the
one hand the Portuguese administration
wanted them out and the other hand had
made it hard for them to get the papers
and to be doing the what I call the the
Paper Chase in Lisbon as much as they
needed to be in Lisbon so yeah there was
that issue once you did get a visa it
didn't mean you could you could take a
boat and and get off and and leave I'm
talking about before the war before the
war if you were in Germany and you got a
visa then in in many cases you had to
wait in line because it was a quota
system for this number of people that
would be admitted from Germany so if you
did a very receive a visa and then you
could be told your number will come up
like in two years or three years you had
to wait because of the quarter so what
did people do they said well I want to
get out of Germany when it was still
possible before the war so they went to
Cuba or to Venezuela to other country
said I'll wait until my number comes up
and then from there I'll go to the
United States that's what happened to
the people on the st. Louis they have
been approved most of them for
emigration for visa to the United States
but they had to wait a year or two and
in 108 its 1939 the war Clause clouds
were gathering so they decided to take
on a visa to Cuba and in Cuba they were
going to wait a year or two to get the
United States well once they were on the
boat they were told that the Cubans
government had passed a new regulation
you needed a landing permit which they
something new they didn't have a landing
permit so the Cubans refused for theirs
for the passengers in Havana to
disembark when the ship was docked in
Havana and no one knew what to do with
the saintly we talked about 927 people I
know 27 or 29 and then the Jewish
organizations and petitioned the State
Department these people have already
been approved for emigration but they
cannot go now but in - in a year or two
let him go in and deduct that from what
the quarter the State Department said no
we can't do that because if we allow
this there will be some other ships
there's other people are you going to
use the same trick so that's why the st.
Louis vote was denied and it had to go
back all the way to Europe so I'm sure
that there are questions from the
audience I mean many of you lived
through this so please anyone who has a
question let me know so come up to the
microphone if you wish to ask a question
please come up to the microphone whoever
wishes you can already come up to the
microphones oh I see you're gonna pass
around good thank you very much I just
want to clarify on the visa so Susie
DeMint de menos was issuing transit
visas that meant that the people who
went to him had n visas already Cuba I
believe what they had is tourist visas
which Sousa Mendes
when he's in Bordeaux mansis transit
visas do passed so those people had n
visas or he was just issuing transit
visas without them having boat boat
thank you
hi
how did Susan Mendez come to Yad Vashem
is attention in the first place good
questions
it happened in the 1962-63
when suddenly Portugal still ruled by
Salazar some people in Portugal um
inspired encouraged by the Portuguese
government they came up with a report
that Portugal helped Jews to escape from
the Nazis and they pointed out to what
was mentioned in these lectures of the
thousands of Jews that pass through
Portugal and that's also it's not such a
bad person after all
he helped use due to save themselves and
later on in Budapest later on in 1944
the Portuguese diplomats they also
helped use and so one of the daughters
of Sousa Mendes who happen to be in New
York I believe her name was Joanna and
she wrote letters to the newspaper and
he said Salazar is lying
my father was persecuted by this man and
some some articles came out then in
1962-63 about his whole issue of Salazar
and this came to the attention of Yad
Vashem and we received the the short
statement by Robert Heinkel who I
believe was still alive yes a son in
Jerusalem and the Yad Vashem then
decided in 1964 to add his name
posthumously to the list of the
righteous so all of this resulted as a
result of the of the debate that came
out about Salazar who were still in
power in nineteen in the early 1960s
I'm I saw I noticed one of the slides
was a slide of the synagogues effective
in Lisbon and I'm curious about the role
of the organized Jewish community in
particular the synagogue and the rabbi
at the time I don't I don't know if I
can explain everything but the the
Portuguese community there is a really
Portuguese community was helping Jewish
for many ways they have the comesss it
was another institution created by this
community that helped they they have
medicines they have clothes they have
they have the soup kitchen and hospital
and the the synagogue was the meeting
points in Lisbon where all Jews when
they arrived at least when they come to
the synagogue to to to see if her
friends or family arrived there it was a
meeting point I don't know if what do
you want to know more very proud to say
that I'm the granddaughter of rabbi
Avram Castel who in fact was the rabbi
in sharra tikva from 1910 to 1945 and he
in fact was quite involved as you
described in the villas more I you know
I regret ibly I don't have any more
information other than what you have
said and which has been substantiated by
my family and actually in people in
Lisbon with whom I've spoken that my it
was my grandfather who in many ways was
responsible for placing immigrants in
homes in Portugal and finding places
that they could stay either for a short
time or for a long time and of course
providing or getting access to them for
provision
and anything which they wanted I also
had an aunt who was working for the
sellers our government and whatever she
could do behind the scenes and of course
it was never discussed at home and this
was all very kind of secret stuff she
was able to do whatever she could behind
the scenes working for the sellers at
for sellers that he was friends he was
the head of the Jewish community they're
not the rabbi I'm solid yes yeah yeah
it's a controversial figure but still he
was a good friend of Salazar's and he
had he had his a year so Salazar himself
I think is a very ambiguous figure and
so I really think that that's important
to understand also by the way just a
moment those of you who may still have
letters diaries or memoirs of your folks
make sure that you speak to where are
you Frank Mecklenburg here from the Leo
Beck Institute because it would be
fabulous if you gave copies or originals
whatever you feel like
to the Leo Beck Institute so that this
just doesn't disappear into dust at some
point so keep that in mind it's really
really important that's how we get our
sources right those are those that's how
we're writing our books
[Music]
how many visas have been documented and
is there any documentation of people who
were rejected once the manless visas
were considered invalid foundation has a
very active research team and we're
trying to answer that question like I
can't see who asked the question can you
raise your hand hi oh right here
okay so we've at this point identified
3000 individual Sousa Mendes visa
recipients by name so we don't know if
that's 10% of the purported 30,000 or if
it's more or less or what it is we don't
know what the total will end up to be
and so we're trying to find these
families and document what happened to
each family one family at a time and
well the situation is different in
different cases so we know that there
were families who got to the border too
late when the Border Patrol had been
told to disregard these visas and a lot
of those people went into hiding and
some of those people were then deported
and killed other people made it to
safety in America or safety in Brazil
there are a whole bunch of Dutch visa
recipients who boarded a Dutch vessel in
Bordeaux they didn't go to Portugal but
that very day they got the visa they
heard there was a ship leaving to
England for Dutch citizens and that ship
was torpedoed and sank and all those
people died so one visa was you needed
rescue after rescue to make it so all
the people who made it who are here in
this room it's a veritable miracle and
if I may just add up the the number of
the 30,000 visas is taken from
[Music]
portugal official papers it's the number
of refugees that was numbered by the
government at that moment that's my
understanding of things and it is this
came up even in the recent article that
was found written in 1946 by journalist
portuguese journalist that kind of deep
throat who could enter a public and
portugal so he sent a letter in the in
the united states a could you complete
and the the so it was published in the
paper and new bedford at the time I
believe New Bedford mass that published
a long article 1946 from an anonymous
journalist who had a pseudonym onyx Oh n
IX was a pseudonym where he mentions
this thirty thousand figure he says
Sousa Mendes issued all these visas it
wasn't Salazar who rescued these people
Salazar is currently persecuting this
man right 1946 he was still alive and
the world needs to know what's going on
so that thirty thousand figure is in
that 1946 article it's just because
thirty thousand is a figure that the
joint gives for all the refugees that
pass through Portugal well that's the
figure given in 1940 1941 by the joint
which include all the refugees who
passed through other countries simply
would like to add to this conversation I
usually I never referred to thirty
thousand or twenty thousand to who knows
what and when I speak about the role of
Wallenberg I don't say 50,000 60,000
70,000 I because you get into trouble
you can't prove that but I say that
Mendes certainly issued transitory to
thousands of people
or else Salazar would not have gotten
involved and haven't removed and fired
and disciplined and everything made a
case out of him if you
we issued five or six visas so we're
talking we're talking about thousands
and that's good enough for me
and for everyone and also I wanted to
point out that some of those visas some
of those refugees never made it to
Portugal because they had to go into
hiding and so the number of people were
directed I'm gonna ask that we have one
question up here and we can take one
more down there and then we're going to
have a I want to briefly introduce dr.
Frank Mecklenburg we have coffee and
pastry and then we have a film but
there's plenty of time for you all to
talk among yourselves and with our
distinguished guests so we have one
question up here one you can find down
there I would like to get back to
Rebecca sells granddaughter
I knew Rebecca Stella I grew up in
Portugal and I left Portugal in 1941 at
the age of 15 Rebecca still had an
assistant rabbi rabbi decent rogue who
had originally come from Austria he
organized a youth group for the refugee
children teen ages and it was a
continuously changing group of people
because some people came some people
left but there was this youth group to
get the kids semi-normal life if you
want to call it that there were also
families in Portugal who had children my
father included who would invite
children the age of their own children
to come spend time with them so that
these children this refugee children
would have a temporarily normal day or
two
[Applause]
boom what was positioned of the Catholic
Church in regard did they assist or stay
neutral or say anything during this
period with regard to to the refugee the
Jewish refugees coming into the country
well and giving assistance to them have
any position
I can't well what I can do is to is come
start the answer by telling you that
during while he was punished
my grandfather turned towards the well
he was looking for help for support and
he turned to the the church and the
finally well the answer he got is pray
pray for help so that was about their
position you know they were very much
linked to Salazar and they they shared
the power together and they put their
limits where they thought was best for
them and they didn't stood up you know
the food to support my grandfatherís so
it tells you a bit about the rest of
refugees I want to say a profound thank
you too Olivia
[Applause]
and to our guests for both the most
informative and also the most moving
testimonies that we could hear about
this before you leave I want to
introduce to you because we have others
I think this is such an incredible
example of Jewish history here you are
sitting in an audience and you are
probably sitting next to somebody who is
part of this history so there are yet
others to introduce you to I want to
introduce you first to dr. Frank
Mecklenburg who is the director of the
archives of Leo Beck Institute before
you go to have your coffee break I want
to point out we have a small exhibit out
there which gives one example of a
family way you can see the original
documents which is one of the many
treasures that we have here at the
center and I want to emphasize what
Professor Kaplan was saying please see
that you have original documents family
materials from the time that pertain to
this that get rescued saved and here at
Leo Beck Institute and the Center for
Jewish history is the best place to do
that it all comes together and I just
want to say that this small exhibit is
an example of one family actually we
have one of the daughters here with her
children and this is a small this is a
small exhibit about a few documents a
family that came already to Portugal in
the mid 1930s in the early 1930s to flee
from Germany the father actually had
fought in World War one for Germany had
a bullet lodged in his leg which
unfortunately got infected and in 1937
he had to undergo an operation but
because of the lack of proper medical
care he died of that infection so the
the family the the the women the woman
was widowed
her two young daughters then in 1941 at
the end of 1941 could go with a
transport of children under 16 buy
organized by the American Service rescue
Friends Service Committee the Quakers
come to the United States she separated
from her two young daughters and she
actually had to stay in Lisbon and one
of the pictures that we have in that
exhibit is she worked for the Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee there's a
picture of VE Day when they were all
cheering the liberation of Europe so if
you have a chance please go and look and
I think the family will stand around and
it's Gabrielle Greenberg are you she's
in the audience all the way up there and
her cousin actually Gerda who was also
on the boat who is also here and two
children of Gabrielle and you probably
can meet them at the exhibit thank you
can you hear me okay which is the woman
who was talking about being a teenager
and working with Rabbi castells
in the Portuguese synagogue when I made
a plug for you to send letters or
memoirs or Diaries people like you
should also write their memoirs about
that moment in time and give it to the
Leo Beck because that is missing we
don't have much from kids who were
teenagers at the time we have from their
parents or sometimes from children but
that's a really interesting story that I
don't know about and I think it would be
really helpful so get to writing before
you all go off on your coffee break if
those of you who are going to be in the
picture who are Visa recipients or
escaped through Portugal if you could
stay for five minutes let everybody else
go to the coffee break and you'll join
them in five minutes
