Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAristides de Sousa Mendes
Portuguese diplomat
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Viseu, Viseu District, Portugal
About Aristides de Sousa Mendes
- Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches (Portuguese pronunciation: [??i?'tið?? ð? 'sowz? 'm?d??]) GCC, OL (July 19, 1885 – April 3, 1954) was a Portuguese consul during World War II. As the Portuguese consul-general in the French city of Bordeaux, he defied the orders of António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo regime, issuing visas and passports to an undetermined number of refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, including Jews.
- For this, Sousa Mendes was punished by the Salazar regime with one year of inactivity with the right to one half of his rank's pay, being obliged subsequently to be retired.
- However he ended up never being forced to retire and he received a full consul salary until his death in 1954.
- Sousa Mendes was vindicated in 1988, more than a decade after the Carnation Revolution, which toppled the Estado Novo. For his efforts to save Jewish refugees, Sousa Mendes was recognized by Israel as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, the first diplomat to be so honored, in 1966.
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