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Sousa Mendes exhibition in Luxembourg
The National Archives of Luxembourg presents a large and comprehensive exhibition: Aristides de Sousa Mendes : un consul portugais entre la conscience humaine et la raison d’Etat. The Sousa Mendes Foundation has contributed objects, photographs and testimonials to the project. Other lenders include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon, Portugal and the Sousa Mendes family. The exhibition is presented on the occasion of Luxembourg assuming the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
One of the families saved by Aristides de Sousa Mendes in 1940 is the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg (pictured above), headed at the time by Grand Duchess Charlotte. She wrote of Sousa Mendes:
“His merits, in a time of tragedy and panic, will always be remembered by the Luxembourg refugees, many of them of Jewish faith, by the members of the Luxembourg Government and by my own family, who were saved by his initiative from certain persecution and thus enabled to reach the free countries.”
The exhibition will be held at the National Archives of Luxembourg, Plateau du Saint-Esprit, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Saturday 8:30-11:30 a.m., from November 28, 2019 until February 22, 2020. It is free and open to the public. Free guided tours are available by reservation at relations.publiques@an.etat.lu.
Film screening at Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY
The Cinema Arts Centre presents a screening of the documentary film, Nobody Wants Us (2019, dir. Laura Seltzer-Duny).
Synopsis: In 1940, a ship called the S.S. Quanza left the port of Lisbon carrying several hundred Jewish refugees to freedom. Most of them held life-saving visas issued by the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes. But events went terribly wrong, and the passengers became trapped on the ship because no country would take them in. Nobody Wants Us tells the gripping true story of how Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in to save the passengers on board because of her moral conviction that they were not “undesirables” (as the US State Department labeled them) but rather, “future patriotic Americans.” This is an episode in American history that everyone needs to know.
Program: The event is part of the “Sunday Schmooze” film-and-discussion series at the Cinema Arts Centre hosted by Fred Craden. Schedule:
10 a.m. Bagel brunch.
11 a.m. Screening followed by Q&A with filmmaker Laura Seltzer-Duny and Olivia Mattis, President of the Sousa Mendes Foundation. Special guest: Gerald Mendes, grandson of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
Cost: $15 for members; $20 for non-members.
Tickets: For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.
Booksigning at US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Joan Arnay Halperin will be in person at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum signing copies of her book, My Sister’s Eyes: A Family Chronicle of Rescue and Loss During World War II — her tribute to the sister she never knew and to Aristides de Sousa Mendes who saved her family. Her brother, Richard Arnay, will be at her side on Sunday.
Film screening in Boca Raton, FL
Temple Beth Shalom presents the award-winning docudrama Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story. There will be a question & answer session following the showing led by Robert Jacobvitz, chair of the Sousa Mendes International Advisory Council. Light refreshments will be served. Parking available. The synagogue is disability accessible.
Directions: The Temple is located within Century Village in Boca Raton, between Yamato Road and Kimberly Boulevard. Upon arriving at the entrance, announce to the gate attendant you are visiting to see the movie at Temple Beth Shalom. Directions will be given.
Cost $5 for members, $7 for non-members, cash or check.
Contact for inquiries: Michael Hamerman, event coordinator: cellular phone: 908-451-0721 or mikehamerman@gmail.com
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