1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren Boglebaum. Here. 2 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty, less than a year into what would 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: become the deadliest war ever waged, a lifelong Portuguese diplomat 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: named Arstidis di Susa Mendez, assigned to a consulate in Bordeaux, France, 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: was faced with a rending choice defy orders, thereby risking 6 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: his position, his very livelihood, and the safety of his 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: wife and twelve children, or carry out his duties and 8 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 1: leave the fate of tens of thousands of refugees to 9 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: advancing Nazi forces. Over eighty years later, Susa mendez story 10 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: remains largely unknown, but because of his choice, which almost 11 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: certainly saved the lives of many of those refugees and 12 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: their families, including thousands of Jewish people, his is a 13 00:00:54,880 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: story that directly touches many thousands more today. For the 14 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke 15 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: doctor Olivia Mattis, the President and chief operating officer of 16 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: the Susan Mendes Foundation. She said, he's a hero. He's 17 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: a man who risked everything and lost everything and displayed 18 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: incredible moral courage. That's really the key phrase moral courage, 19 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: the idea that one person can make a difference. Anyone 20 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: can display moral courage if the opportunity presents itself. You 21 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: can choose to go left, or you can choose to 22 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: go right. There's always the easy choice and the hard choice. 23 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: Arstatistics sus amndes do amoral I Abranus was born in 24 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: Portugal in eighteen eighty five, and apologies, my Portuguese is terrible. 25 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: I did try on that pronunciation anyway. After graduating with 26 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: a law degree, he was deployed to Portuguese consulates around 27 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: the world at Zanzibar, Brazil, San Francisco, Spain, and Belgium. 28 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: In January of nineteen thirty eight, he was assigned to 29 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: that Portuguese consulate in Bordeaux, France. The following year, Germany 30 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: under Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, a prompting Portugal, trying to 31 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: remain neutral in the burgeoning conflict that would become World 32 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: War Two, to distribute what was known as Circular fourteen. 33 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: This order decreed the Portuguese consuls deny travel into Portugal 34 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: for refugees fleeing the Nazi occupied countries in Europe. By 35 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,359 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen forty. Throughout Europe, some six to ten 36 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: million people were on the move, trying to stay ahead 37 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: of the Nazis who had walked into Paris on June fourteenth. 38 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: In southern France, the streets of Bordeaux were crammed with 39 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: people trying to make it to the border. They slipped 40 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,519 Speaker 1: through Spain and into Portugal, where they hoped to obtain 41 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: passage by ship to safer places. Knowing what could happen 42 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: to him and his family if he defied Circular fourteen, 43 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: but seeing the terror unfold before him, uz Amendes was torn. 44 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: He had befriended a Polish rabbi by the name of 45 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: Heimhertz Kruger and offered visus to him and his family, 46 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: but Krueger turned down the offer and tried to convince 47 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: sus Amendez to help everyone that he could. After days 48 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: of seclusion and prayer, sus Amendes, a devout Catholic, decided 49 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: to act. He wrote in a letter at the time, 50 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: I have it all in my hands now to save 51 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: the many thousands of persons who have come from everywhere 52 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: in Europe in the hope of finding sanctuary in Portugal. 53 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: They are all human beings and their status in life. 54 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: Their religion or color are altogether immaterial to me. With 55 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: the help of Rabbi Krueger, his own family, and others, 56 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: sus Amendes devised an assembly line like system to stamp 57 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: and sign thousands of transit visas for anyone who applied. 58 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: He traveled in person to a consulate in southern France 59 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: and called to order other diplomats to do the same. 60 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: His nephew, Caesar Mendez described the scene. When I arrived 61 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: in Bordeaux and approached the Consulate of Portugal, I noticed 62 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: immediately that a large crowd of refugees was heading that way. 63 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: The closer I got to the consulate, the larger the crowd. 64 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: Since May tenth of nineteen forty, until the occupation of 65 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: Bordeaux by the Germans, the dining room, the drawing room, 66 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: and the consul's offices were at the disposal of the refugees, 67 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: scores of them, of both sexes, all ages, including old 68 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: and sick people. They were coming and going, pregnant women 69 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: who did not feel well, and people who had seen 70 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 1: their relatives die on the highways, killed by airplane machine 71 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: gun fire. They slept on chairs on the floor on 72 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: the rugs. Tens of thousands of people were granted visas 73 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: under Susan Mendez authority. Historians think it may be the 74 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 1: largest rescue action carried out by a single person during 75 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: the Holocaust. Among those saved was a seven year old 76 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: boy suffering from appendicitis fleeing his home in war ravaged Belgium. 77 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: His name at the time was Daniel Matusowitz now Daniel Matis. 78 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: He's Olivia's father and a retired professor of physics at 79 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: the University of Utah. In all, Susamandes rescued twelve members 80 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: of Daniel's immediate family. A dozens more that sprung from 81 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: that original twelve, including his daughter, are alive today because 82 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,480 Speaker 1: of his actions. And that's just one family represented among 83 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: the thousands of people Susamandes saved. Matus said they were 84 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: hoping for a miracle, and he was that miracle. In 85 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: July of nineteen forty, Susamandes was recalled from Bordeaux to 86 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: face trial for his insubordination. He said in court, it 87 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,359 Speaker 1: was indeed my aim to save all those people whose 88 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: suffering was indescribable. Some had lost their spouses, others had 89 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: no news of missing children. Others had seen their loved 90 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: ones succumbed to the German bombings, which occurred every day 91 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: and did not spare the terrified refugees. How many must 92 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 1: have had to bury them before continuing on their frenzied flight. 93 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: Susamndes argued that his actions were not only morally defensible, 94 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: but the Portugal's constitution prohibited persecution based on religion. But 95 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: in October of nineteen forty he was found guilty, relieved 96 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: of his duties, and essentially blacklisted by Portugal's dictatorship for 97 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: the rest of his life. He died in nineteen fifty 98 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,160 Speaker 1: four at the Franciscan Hospital for the Poor in Lisbon. 99 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: Toward the end of his life, Susamandes was asked about 100 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 1: that fateful June. He said, I could not have acted otherwise, 101 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love. 102 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: Time has been slow to acknowledge Susamndez's sacrifices, but recognition 103 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: is coming. He's now often cited alongside Oscar Schindler, the 104 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jewish people 105 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: during World War II and was memorialized in a novel 106 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: and the nineteen ninety three Stephen Spielberg film Schindler's List. 107 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: Susamandez children spent decades trying to clear their father's name. 108 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six, his daughter Joanna Susamandez finally won 109 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: the petition for her father to be named as a 110 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: Righteous among the Nations, which is the World Holocaust Remembrance 111 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: Center's honorific for non Jews who took great risks to 112 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: save Jewish people during the Holocaust. In nineteen eighty seven, 113 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: at the urging of the US Congress, the post dictatorship 114 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: Portuguese government officially apologized. Susamandes has since been honored with 115 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: postage stamps, the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, 116 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: and streets and parks have been named for him. Daniel 117 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: Matis never spoke to his daughter about his escape from Europe, 118 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: but in twenty ten, while watching French TV from his 119 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: home in Salt Lake City, he came upon a little 120 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: known two thousand and eight film called Disobedience and immediately 121 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: recognized the main character, Susan Mendes, as the man who 122 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: had saved his life. Daniel contacted the filmmaker and spoke 123 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: with his daughter Olivia, who tracked down members of Susan 124 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: Mendes's family through Facebook. Together, along with the descendants of 125 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: other family members that he saved, they founded the Susan 126 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: Mendes Foundation. Matus said, I realized how much their family suffered, 127 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: so my family and families like mine could live. The 128 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: foundation has compiled a list of about three thousand, nine 129 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,319 Speaker 1: hundred Susan Mendes visa recipients and is constantly looking for more. 130 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: The foundation also interviews survivors and gathers their histories, educates 131 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: people about their stories, and in twenty twenty four opened 132 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: the museum in the restored Susan Mendes home in Portugal. 133 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: The sus Amandes Foundation represents one man's courageous and selfless actions, 134 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: and the work of the foundation continues in that same 135 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: vein today. Matus said, there is a noticeable and documented 136 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: rise and hate crimes the last few years. We need 137 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: to constantly remind people that violent words lead to violent actions, 138 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: and that cannot be tolerated words of incitement. The rise 139 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: of the far right is always bad news. That's the 140 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: most urgent thing. Our foundation is not going to make 141 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: a dent in any of that, but we can try. 142 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article our stiatistic sus 143 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: Amendes saved thousands from Holocaust but lost all on HowStuffWorks 144 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production 145 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is 146 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts myheart Radio, visit 147 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 148 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.