|
Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches ((:ɐɾiʃˈtiðɨʒ ðɨ ˈsowzɐ ˈmẽdɨʃ)) GCC, OL (July 19, 1885 – April 3, 1954) was a Portuguese consul whose actions during World War II saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees. As the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux in France, he defied the orders of Portugal's António de Oliveira Salazar dictatorship issuing visas and passports in the early period of World War II to an undetermined number of refugees fleeing from the invading German military forces. He was punished by his government for his actions but was eventually vindicated after his death. He was honored posthumously by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations,〔(Aristides de Sousa Mendes ) - his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website〕 the first diplomat to be so honored. == Early life== Aristides de Sousa Mendes was born in Cabanas de Viriato, in Carregal do Sal, in the district of Viseu, Centro Region of Portugal, on July 19, 1885, shortly after midnight. His twin brother César, born a few minutes earlier, had a July 18 birthday. Their ancestry included a notable aristocratic line: their mother, Maria Angelina Ribeiro de Abranches de Abreu Castelo-Branco, was a maternal illegitimate granddaughter of the 2nd Viscount of Midões, a lower rural aristocracy title. Their father, José de Sousa Mendes, was a judge on the Coimbra Court of Appeals. César served as Foreign Minister in 1932, in the early days of António de Oliveira Salazar's regime. Their younger brother, Jose Paulo, became a naval officer. Sousa Mendes and his twin studied law at the University of Coimbra, and each obtained his degree in 1908. In that same year, Sousa Mendes married his childhood sweetheart, Maria Angelina Coelho de Sousa (born August 20, 1888). They eventually had fourteen children, born in the various countries in which he served. Shortly after his marriage, Sousa Mendes began the consular officer career that would take him and his family around the world. Early in his career, he served in Zanzibar, Brazil, Spain, the United States, and Belgium.〔Reese Ehrlich, "A Hero Remembered," ''Hadassah Magazine'' (November 1987): 26.〕 Sousa Mendes was not shy about expressing his independent views. In August 1919, while posted in Brazil, he was "temporarily suspended by the Foreign Ministry, which regarded him as hostile to the republican regime." Subsequently, "he had financial problems and was forced to take out a loan in order to provide for his family needs." He returned home to Portugal where his son Pedro Nuno was born in Coimbra in April 1920. In 1921, Sousa Mendes was assigned to the Portuguese consulate in San Francisco, and two more of his children were born there. In 1923, he angered some members of the Portuguese-American community because of his insistence that certain applicants contribute to a Portuguese charity. Both sides decided to publish their arguments in local newspapers. Ultimately the conflict led to the US Department of State canceling his consular exequatur which prevented him from continuing his consular services in the US. While in San Francisco, Sousa Mendes helped establish a Portuguese Studies program at the University of California at Berkeley.〔Aristides de Sousa Mendes, "A Lingua Portuguesa na Universidade da California," ''O Lavrador Portugues'', November 28, 1923, p.1.〕 In the month of May of 1926 a coup d'état replaced the republic in Portugal with a Military Dictatorship, a regime that according to Sousa Mendes "had been greeted with delight" in Portugal. He supported the new regime at first and his career perspectives improved. In the month of March of 1927 Sousa Mendes was assigned to serve as the Consul in Vigo in Spain, where he helped the new regime neutralize Oppositionists. He was then sent to Antwerp, Belgium in 1929 to serve as Dean of the Consular Corps. The year of 1934 was a somewhat tragic year for the Sousa Mendes family with the loss of two of its children, Raquel barely one year old of age, and Manuel who had just graduated from the University of Louvain. In Antwerp Sousa Mendes was disciplined for tardiness in the transferring of funds to the head of the Foreign Office. He was assigned in the year of 1938 to the post of Consul-General of Bordeaux, France, with jurisdiction over the whole of the southwest of France. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aristides de Sousa Mendes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|