WEBVTT - How Did One Portuguese Diplomat Save Thousands of Holocaust Refugees? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:08.719 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren Boglebaum. Here. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.640 In nineteen forty, less than a year into what would 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:18.040 become the deadliest war ever waged, a lifelong Portuguese diplomat 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:22.239 named Arstidis di Susa Mendez, assigned to a consulate in Bordeaux, France, 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:27.240 was faced with a rending choice defy orders, thereby risking 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.560 his position, his very livelihood, and the safety of his 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:34.400 wife and twelve children, or carry out his duties and 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.360 leave the fate of tens of thousands of refugees to 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:43.080 advancing Nazi forces. Over eighty years later, Susa mendez story 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:48.280 remains largely unknown, but because of his choice, which almost 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.040 certainly saved the lives of many of those refugees and 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.840 their families, including thousands of Jewish people, his is a 0:00:54.880 --> 0:01:00.440 story that directly touches many thousands more today. For the 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.200 article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:07.120 doctor Olivia Mattis, the President and chief operating officer of 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:12.319 the Susan Mendes Foundation. She said, he's a hero. He's 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:16.160 a man who risked everything and lost everything and displayed 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:21.200 incredible moral courage. That's really the key phrase moral courage, 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.720 the idea that one person can make a difference. Anyone 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.400 can display moral courage if the opportunity presents itself. You 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.720 can choose to go left, or you can choose to 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:35.720 go right. There's always the easy choice and the hard choice. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:41.440 Arstatistics sus amndes do amoral I Abranus was born in 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:46.080 Portugal in eighteen eighty five, and apologies, my Portuguese is terrible. 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.360 I did try on that pronunciation anyway. After graduating with 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.440 a law degree, he was deployed to Portuguese consulates around 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:58.160 the world at Zanzibar, Brazil, San Francisco, Spain, and Belgium. 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.360 In January of nineteen thirty eight, he was assigned to 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:06.720 that Portuguese consulate in Bordeaux, France. The following year, Germany 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:11.040 under Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, a prompting Portugal, trying to 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.200 remain neutral in the burgeoning conflict that would become World 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.200 War Two, to distribute what was known as Circular fourteen. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.799 This order decreed the Portuguese consuls deny travel into Portugal 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:28.880 for refugees fleeing the Nazi occupied countries in Europe. By 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.359 summer of nineteen forty. Throughout Europe, some six to ten 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.160 million people were on the move, trying to stay ahead 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.760 of the Nazis who had walked into Paris on June fourteenth. 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.960 In southern France, the streets of Bordeaux were crammed with 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.320 people trying to make it to the border. They slipped 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.519 through Spain and into Portugal, where they hoped to obtain 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:53.639 passage by ship to safer places. Knowing what could happen 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.480 to him and his family if he defied Circular fourteen, 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.320 but seeing the terror unfold before him, uz Amendes was torn. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.799 He had befriended a Polish rabbi by the name of 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.880 Heimhertz Kruger and offered visus to him and his family, 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.160 but Krueger turned down the offer and tried to convince 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.600 sus Amendez to help everyone that he could. After days 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.160 of seclusion and prayer, sus Amendes, a devout Catholic, decided 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.440 to act. He wrote in a letter at the time, 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.560 I have it all in my hands now to save 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.200 the many thousands of persons who have come from everywhere 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.880 in Europe in the hope of finding sanctuary in Portugal. 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.440 They are all human beings and their status in life. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:43.560 Their religion or color are altogether immaterial to me. With 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.880 the help of Rabbi Krueger, his own family, and others, 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:51.200 sus Amendes devised an assembly line like system to stamp 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:55.160 and sign thousands of transit visas for anyone who applied. 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.200 He traveled in person to a consulate in southern France 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.520 and called to order other diplomats to do the same. 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:08.160 His nephew, Caesar Mendez described the scene. When I arrived 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.440 in Bordeaux and approached the Consulate of Portugal, I noticed 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.520 immediately that a large crowd of refugees was heading that way. 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.960 The closer I got to the consulate, the larger the crowd. 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.800 Since May tenth of nineteen forty, until the occupation of 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.800 Bordeaux by the Germans, the dining room, the drawing room, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.320 and the consul's offices were at the disposal of the refugees, 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.640 scores of them, of both sexes, all ages, including old 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.520 and sick people. They were coming and going, pregnant women 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.920 who did not feel well, and people who had seen 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.159 their relatives die on the highways, killed by airplane machine 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.719 gun fire. They slept on chairs on the floor on 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:50.960 the rugs. Tens of thousands of people were granted visas 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.760 under Susan Mendez authority. Historians think it may be the 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.280 largest rescue action carried out by a single person during 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:02.320 the Holocaust. Among those saved was a seven year old 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.839 boy suffering from appendicitis fleeing his home in war ravaged Belgium. 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.400 His name at the time was Daniel Matusowitz now Daniel Matis. 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.760 He's Olivia's father and a retired professor of physics at 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:22.000 the University of Utah. In all, Susamandes rescued twelve members 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:26.000 of Daniel's immediate family. A dozens more that sprung from 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:30.200 that original twelve, including his daughter, are alive today because 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.480 of his actions. And that's just one family represented among 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:39.520 the thousands of people Susamandes saved. Matus said they were 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:45.760 hoping for a miracle, and he was that miracle. In 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.680 July of nineteen forty, Susamandes was recalled from Bordeaux to 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.920 face trial for his insubordination. He said in court, it 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.359 was indeed my aim to save all those people whose 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:03.039 suffering was indescribable. Some had lost their spouses, others had 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.159 no news of missing children. Others had seen their loved 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.080 ones succumbed to the German bombings, which occurred every day 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:13.800 and did not spare the terrified refugees. How many must 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.039 have had to bury them before continuing on their frenzied flight. 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:23.279 Susamndes argued that his actions were not only morally defensible, 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:29.240 but the Portugal's constitution prohibited persecution based on religion. But 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.960 in October of nineteen forty he was found guilty, relieved 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.359 of his duties, and essentially blacklisted by Portugal's dictatorship for 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:41.040 the rest of his life. He died in nineteen fifty 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.160 four at the Franciscan Hospital for the Poor in Lisbon. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.720 Toward the end of his life, Susamandes was asked about 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.480 that fateful June. He said, I could not have acted otherwise, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.640 and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:05.320 Time has been slow to acknowledge Susamndez's sacrifices, but recognition 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.880 is coming. He's now often cited alongside Oscar Schindler, the 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.080 German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jewish people 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:15.760 during World War II and was memorialized in a novel 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:20.320 and the nineteen ninety three Stephen Spielberg film Schindler's List. 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:24.360 Susamandez children spent decades trying to clear their father's name. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.720 In nineteen sixty six, his daughter Joanna Susamandez finally won 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.040 the petition for her father to be named as a 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:36.040 Righteous among the Nations, which is the World Holocaust Remembrance 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.600 Center's honorific for non Jews who took great risks to 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.160 save Jewish people during the Holocaust. In nineteen eighty seven, 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.400 at the urging of the US Congress, the post dictatorship 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:53.200 Portuguese government officially apologized. Susamandes has since been honored with 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.240 postage stamps, the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:00.600 and streets and parks have been named for him. Daniel 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.120 Matis never spoke to his daughter about his escape from Europe, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.400 but in twenty ten, while watching French TV from his 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.480 home in Salt Lake City, he came upon a little 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.680 known two thousand and eight film called Disobedience and immediately 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.280 recognized the main character, Susan Mendes, as the man who 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:23.760 had saved his life. Daniel contacted the filmmaker and spoke 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.600 with his daughter Olivia, who tracked down members of Susan 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:31.440 Mendes's family through Facebook. Together, along with the descendants of 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.400 other family members that he saved, they founded the Susan 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:40.040 Mendes Foundation. Matus said, I realized how much their family suffered, 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:45.800 so my family and families like mine could live. The 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.080 foundation has compiled a list of about three thousand, nine 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.319 hundred Susan Mendes visa recipients and is constantly looking for more. 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:59.200 The foundation also interviews survivors and gathers their histories, educates 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.040 people about their stories, and in twenty twenty four opened 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.160 the museum in the restored Susan Mendes home in Portugal. 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:11.920 The sus Amandes Foundation represents one man's courageous and selfless actions, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.160 and the work of the foundation continues in that same 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:20.520 vein today. Matus said, there is a noticeable and documented 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.160 rise and hate crimes the last few years. We need 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:28.360 to constantly remind people that violent words lead to violent actions, 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:33.400 and that cannot be tolerated words of incitement. The rise 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.920 of the far right is always bad news. That's the 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.520 most urgent thing. Our foundation is not going to make 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.160 a dent in any of that, but we can try. 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.840 Today's episode is based on the article our stiatistic sus 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.920 Amendes saved thousands from Holocaust but lost all on HowStuffWorks 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.200 dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.160 of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.320 produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts myheart Radio, visit 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.640 the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:10.640 your favorite shows.