A Good Man in Evil Times: The Heroic Story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes -- The Man Who Saved the Lives of Countless Refugess in World Wa

A career diplomat for Portugal, Sousa Mendes was brought up in an aristocratic and pious Roman Catholic family. It is worth struggling through this stilted translation of the less-relevant first part of his life to learn about the heroic conviction he developed at the age of 55 to defy his superiors in order to save the lives of refugees from Nazism. In 1939 refugees flooded France, trying to obtain visas to Portugal, a neutral country during WWII. Portugal's prime minister, who did not want to alienate Hitler, issued "Circular 14," which effectively prohibited Portuguese consuls from fulfilling a "centuries-old tradition of hospitality" and, in explicitly excluding Jews, "officially introduced a hitherto unknown element of racial or religious segregation into the question of immigration." Finding this policy utterly unconscionable, Sousa Mendes, Portugal's consul general in France's temporary capital of Bordeaux, issued several passports to those fleeing France, and then, overwhelmed by the situation, took to his bed for three days. When he got up, he told his wife (who supported his actions) and children that God had instructed him to obey his conscience. Sousa Mendes set up a virtual assembly line and signed visas for the hordes of refugees who soon swamped his office and residence. He was eventually dismissed from the foreign service without a pension and died in poverty in 1954. Posthumously honored by Israel, he without doubt saved the lives of ten thousand Jews. Fralon, a journalist for Le Monde in Paris, renders a compelling tale of a courageous political act. 16 pages of b&w photos.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

It's hard to believe that this astonishing story has not been written before. Like the Japanese consul Sugihara, Mendes was one of the heroic diplomats who disobeyed their governments and saved thousands from the Nazis. As the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, over a period of six months in 1940, Mendes wrote visas for more than 10,000 refugees, most of them Jews from all over Europe, who were then able to cross the border and escape. The Portuguese dictator, Salazar, never forgave Mendes for his defiance. The consul was stripped of his job and salary. He died totally destitute, forgotten. Much later he was honored in Israel, and in 1988, his own country finally recognized his heroism. This short, dense biography, translated from the French, is just a start in telling of the consul and his times. With painstaking care, Fralon draws on a wealth of sources, including government documents and personal testimonies. He leaves us with the lasting question: How was it that this conservative, conventional man decided "not to obey inhuman orders?" Hazel Rochman
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A Parisian journalist for Le Monde, Fralon tells the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul to France who saved thousands of Jewish lives during World War II. The book begins with Mendes's childhood, family, and career. In addition, we learn about Portugal's "neutral" policy of the time. In spite of this policy, Mendes continually assisted refugees with food and shelter but most importantly by signing thousands of visas so that they could leave the country, saving many Jews from the concentration camps. Mendes was then forced to retire, living for years in poverty. It was not until the 1980s and 1990s that his actions were officially recognized as heroic by Portugal. Mendes was not the only man to assist refugees with visas, but he is part of a small, courageous group that includes Sweden's Raoul Wallenberg and American Varian Fry. This book is written in accessible language and provides a memorable account of a man who stood up for what he thought was right. Recommended for Holocaust and World War II collections. Mary Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll., Wheeling
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.