HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL JOURNEY FROM FRANCE TO PORTUGAL MARKS ESCAPE ROUTE FROM NAZI-OCCUPIED EUROPE

In June of 1940, millions of refugees clogged the roads of France, as the Nazis were marching southward at a rapid clip.  The refugees came from all of the Nazi-occupied lands including Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, and France.  In June and July 2016, after 76 years, a group of 45 people from Austria, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and the United States are retracing the exodus route, beginning in Bordeaux, France and ending in Lisbon, Portugal, in a trip dubbed the Journey on the Road to Freedom.  The group is mainly comprised of families whose lives were saved by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux.  The delegation also includes two grandsons of Sousa Mendes and five Holocaust educators.

During the war years, Portugal was led by the dictator António Salazar, whose policy forbade the issuing of visas to the majority of refugees.  A decree called “Circular 14” specifically targeted Jews, Russians, and the stateless as classes of refugees to be excluded from Portuguese soil.  Sousa Mendes, a devout Catholic, defied his government and acted autonomously in giving visas to thousands, stating “I would rather stand with God agains man than with man against God.”  As a result, he was recalled to Portugal and disciplined, dying in misery and disgrace in 1954.  Posthumously, he was honored as a “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in 1966.  The Journey on the Road to Freedom is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his being so designated.

Famous Sousa Mendes visa recipients include the Curious George authors Hans and Margret Rey, the painter Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala, and the recently deceased actress Madeleine Lebeau, most famous for her rendition of “La Marseillaise” in Casablanca.  Political figures rescued by Sousa Mendes include Otto von Habsburg, the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, and leading figures in the Belgian cabinet.  However, most visa recipients were ordinary men, women and children, mainly Jews, escaping Nazi persecution.  To date, more than 3700 visa recipients have been individually identified by the Sousa Mendes Foundation, and the total is estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

On the Journey on the Road to Freedom the pilgrims will cross the footbridge linking France to Spain at Hendaye and Irun, marking the escape from a Nazi-occupied country to a neutral one.  In Portugal they will enter at Vilar Formoso, where they will unveil a cornerstone of the future “Frontier of Peace” museum, scheduled to open within the next two years.  At the Sousa Mendes family manor in Cabanas de Viriato, site of a future museum to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a ceremony will be held.  Other stops will include cities and villages where the refugees of 1940 lived, including Caldas da Rainha, Coimbra, Curia, and Lisbon.  The participants will also visit the archives of the Portuguese Foreign Ministry, where they will see the original 1940 visa registry book, in which the names of the visa recipients are listed.  The journey will end with a symbolic boat ride in Lisbon harbor to mark the final boat ride taken by the refugees of 1940 to final destinations in the Americas and across the globe.

The trip is being organized by the Sousa Mendes Foundation, a US-based organization formed as a partnership between the Sousa Mendes family and the families of those he saved.

For media inquiries or more information please call toll free:  (877) 797-9759 or send a message to info@sousamendesfoundation.org.

AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION HOSTS EXHIBITION AND PUBLIC PROGRAM “PORTUGAL, THE LAST HOPE:  SOUSA MENDES’ VISAS TO FREEDOM” AT THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY

Courageous and Creative Portuguese Diplomat who Saved Salvador Dali, the Authors of Curious George, and Thousands of Other Holocaust Refugees to be Honored

April 7-December 31, 2016
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, New York

Portugal was the “last hope” for thousands of refugees seeking to escape Nazi-occupied France.  Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux, France,  rescued thousands of refugees in the spring of 1940.  He issued visas contrary to the strict orders of his government, forcing open an escape route where none previously existed. After crossing into Portugal, these refugees found a temporary safe haven and were warmly received by the Portuguese population.  There the refugees awaited onward destination visas and ship passage to the United States, Latin America and elsewhere with help from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and other aid organizations based in Lisbon.  Although harshly punished by his government for his action, Aristides de Sousa Mendes was posthumously named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1966. “Portugal, the Last Hope” commemorates the 50th anniversary of this honor.

The exhibition and public program are presented by the American Sephardi Federation at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York.  The exhibition will open on Thursday, April 7, 2016 and will run through Friday, September 9, 2016.  The evening program and kosher reception will be held on Thursday, April 7 from 6-9 p.m.  Admission is free.

“When following orders was the order of the day, Aristides de Sousa Mendes refused to be an accomplice, whether on account of expediency or complacency, to monstrous attacks on human dignity,” said Jason Guberman, Executive Director of the American Sephardi Federation. “The Holocaust-era heroism honored in this multi-partner exhibit and program should inspire others to follow in Aristides de Sousa Mendes’ stubbornly conscientious and creative footsteps on behalf of freedom,” he added.

The Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer describes the heroic feat of Aristides de Sousa Mendes as “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.”  The rescued families ended up in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Israel, the United Kingdom and elsewhere across the globe and began new lives, while Sousa Mendes himself was put on trial by the Portuguese government for “disobedience” and was harshly punished.  Some of the visa recipients were prominent, such as the artist Salvador Dalí and the authors of Curious George, Hans and Margret Rey.  But most were ordinary families escaping the horrors of Nazi persecution.

The artifacts on display at the Center for Jewish History, including original passports with visas, dolls carried by child refugees, war diaries and other objects, come from the Sousa Mendes family as well as families that survived thanks to the diplomat’s help, and are being provided by the Sousa Mendes Foundation. Other materials, such as unpublished images and films, are being provided by the “Vilar Formoso, Frontier of Peace” museum.  On the night of the opening and for a few days following, there will be a display in the lobby of never-before-seen documents concerning Aristides de Sousa Mendes from the collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Center for Jewish History.

The project has been organized in partnership with the Portuguese Consulate of New York, the Sousa Mendes Foundation, and the Municipality of Almeida, Portugal, with co-sponsorship of the American Jewish Historical Society, the Aristides de Sousa Mendes Virtual Museum (Portugal), the Centro de Portugal Office of Tourism, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Luso-Americano Foundation. A related exhibition, with some of the same artifacts, was recently held at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

The evening program begins promptly at 6 p.m. and includes remarks by Manuela Bairos, Consul General of Portugal at New York and António Baptista Ribeiro, Mayor of Almeida, Portugal, site of the future “Vilar Formoso: Frontier of Peace” museum. Additional features will include the screening of historical footage of the 1940 exodus through Portugal, introduced by Luisa Pacheco Marques and Margarida Ramalho, architect and historian of the future museum. A conversation with Sousa Mendes visa recipient Jean-Claude van Itallie and Sheila Abranches-Pierce, granddaughter of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, will be moderated by Olivia Mattis, President of the Sousa Mendes Foundation. Music by Pedro da Silva, Portuguese guitar.

For more information, please contact Marci Melzer, mmelzer@asf.cjh.org, (917) 606-8266.

HOLOCAUST RESCUER ARISTIDES DE SOUSA MENDES HONORED AT AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY AND LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF THE HOLOCAUST; WORLD PREMIERE OF DRAMATIC ORATORIO “CIRCULAR 14: THE APOTHEOSIS OF ARISTIDES”

On Sunday, January 24, 2016, at 3:00 p.m., American Jewish University at 15600 Mulholland Drive in Bel Air, California will host the World Premiere of the dramatic oratorio Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides by composer Neely Bruce, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music at Wesleyan University. “Aristides de Sousa Mendes was one of the genuine heroes of the Holocaust, a diplomat whose deeds made all the difference between life and death,” said Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute at American Jewish University. “A musical presentation of the man provides us with a brilliant tool to understand human decency and to celebrate a man who acted with nobility and moral clarity,” he added.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes was the Portuguese Consul-General stationed in Bordeaux, France, during World War II. His government had issued strict orders to all its diplomats, in a document called Circular 14, to deny visas to Holocaust refugees seeking to escape Nazi-occupied Europe through Portugal. Sousa Mendes defied these orders and issued Portuguese visas to an estimated 30,000 people in May and June of 1940 in an operation described by the Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer as “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.” The rescued families ended up in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Israel, the United Kingdom and elsewhere across the globe and began new lives, while Sousa Mendes himself was put on trial by the Portuguese government for “disobedience” and was harshly punished. Some of the visa recipients were prominent, such as the artist Salvador Dalí and the authors of Curious George, Hans and Margret Rey. But most were ordinary families escaping the horrors of Nazi persecution.

Marilyn Ziering is the Producer of the concert, and tickets will directly benefit the Sousa Mendes Foundation. Soloists are LA Opera tenor Robert MacNeil in the role of Aristides, LA Opera soprano Marina Harris in the role of his wife Angelina, LA Opera tenor Ashley Faatoalia in the role of Salazar, Stephan Kirchgraber, a New York bass-baritone, in the role of Rabbi Kruger, and LA Opera soprano Katherine Giaquinto in the role of Aristides’s second wife, Andrée Cibial. The part of Aristides’s brother César, a spoken role, will be played by the actor Michel Gill of the hit Netflix series “House of Cards,” who is the son and grandson of Sousa Mendes visa recipients. The Portuguese guitar will be played by Pedro da Silva, the leading performer on this instrument in the United States. The conductor is Donald Brinegar directing the Donald Brinegar Singers, and the composer Neely Bruce will be at the piano. Ticket price: $40. Sponsorship package including two seats and VIP reception with Michel Gill and the artists: $350. Seating is limited. Tickets go on sale in December at wcce.aju.edu or by calling (310) 440-1572.

The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH), 100 S. The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, is a Community Partner for the event and is presenting related programming, including an exhibition, two film screenings and a ceremony. “The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is honored to exhibit original artifacts documenting the life of Aristides de Sousa Mendes,” stated Samara Hutman, Executive Director of LAMOTH. “The exhibit will be part of our Rescue and Resistance Gallery, which educates visitors about remarkable acts of courage and compassion by extraordinary individuals like Sousa Mendes in Nazi-occupied Europe,” she added. The schedule of events is below:

Exhibition “Visas to Freedom: Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the Refugees of World War II”

LAMOTH will host an exhibition of original Sousa Mendes visas and other objects related to the Sousa Mendes story. These artifacts come from the Sousa Mendes family as well as families that survived thanks to the diplomat’s help, and are being lent to LAMOTH by the Sousa Mendes Foundation. The exhibition, called Visas to Freedom: Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the Refugees of World War II, will tell both the general history of Sousa Mendes’s action and the specific story of his multiple ties to the State of California. Sousa Mendes served as Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco in the 1920’s, and two of his children were born in Berkeley. A number of visa recipients ended up in Los Angeles in the 1940’s and 50’s, including Rachel Rosenthal, founder of the dance company that bears her name, and the actor Hugo Haas. Several of his children moved to California in the 1960’s and lived there for the rest of their lives. In addition, the effort to have him recognized by the American and Portuguese governments began in California in the 1980’s with the help of House Majority Whip Tony Coelho (Central Valley), Pete Stark (Oakland), and Henry Waxman (Los Angeles) along with the organized Jewish community of the Greater East Bay. The exhibition will open on Friday, January 22, 2016 and will run until March 1, 2016. A reduced display will be on view thereafter. Admission is free.

Film Screenings

LAMOTH will host two film screenings on Saturday, January 23, 2016:

11:00 a.m. With God Against Man – In June 2013, filmmaker Semyon Pinkhasov followed a group of Sousa Mendes visa recipient families, along with members of the Sousa Mendes family, as they embarked on a pilgrimage retracing their families’ footsteps of 73 years earlier. They were “searching for Sousa Mendes” – looking for traces of a lost history in an effort to understand their personal pasts. Tickets are $5 and are available at the door.

2:00 p.m. Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story – This French film with English subtitles, directed by Joel Santoni and starring Bernard Lecoq in the role of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, won Audience Choice Award for “Best Narrative Feature” at both the Los Angeles Film Festival and the San Diego Film Festival in 2014. Tickets are $5 and are available at the door.

Memorial Ceremony

LAMOTH will host a memorial ceremony and reception on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in honor of Aristides de Sousa Mendes. Among the speakers will be Sebastian Mendes, grandson of the diplomat, Dr. Lissy Jarvik, who received a visa in 1940, and Samara Hutman, Executive Director of LAMOTH. The event is by invitation only.

The Sousa Mendes events in Los Angeles are scheduled to coincide with International Holocaust Memorial Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In addition, the year 2016 is significant as the 50^th anniversary of Aristides de Sousa Mendes being recognized in 1966 as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” by Israel’s Holocaust authority, Yad Vashem. It is also significant as the 30^th anniversary of his being recognized by the United States and Portuguese governments in 1986. The Los Angeles concert, exhibition, ceremony and film screenings are marking all three of these milestones.

Sigi Ziering Institute of American Jewish University

The Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust does at its name implies. In programs and writing, films and educational activities, it probes the Holocaust not merely as an event in history, but one with vast implications for the very foundation of our ethical and religious discourse, our ethical and religious behavior. www.aju.edu/szi/

Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

LAMOTH is the oldest Holocaust museum in the United States. Founded in 1961 by a group of local Holocaust survivors who wanted a permanent, safe home for their Holocaust-era photos and artifacts, the Museum moved to its permanent home in Pan Pacific Park in 2010. LAMOTH dedicates itself as a primary source institution, commemorating those who perished, honoring those who survived, and housing the precious artifacts that miraculously weathered the Holocaust era. The Museum provides free Holocaust education to the public, including students from under-funded schools and underserved communities. The Museum’s programming has grown in community with local Holocaust survivors, many of whom helped found the Museum, and in partnership with schools, community organizations, artists, filmmakers and educators, through engagements that value dialogue, learning and creative reflection. www.lamoth.org

Sousa Mendes Foundation

Founded in 2010, the Sousa Mendes Foundation is dedicated to honoring the memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and to educating the public about refugees and rescue during the Holocaust. Named “Organization of the Year” in 2012 by The Portuguese Tribune, the Sousa Mendes Foundation is engaged in a worldwide search for families who escaped the Holocaust through Portugal. The Foundation has a twofold mission: raising funds for the creation of a Sousa Mendes Museum and Human Rights Center and sponsoring projects that teach the importance of moral courage in a civilized world. www.sousamendesfoundation.org

For more information, please contact Olivia Mattis, President, Sousa Mendes Foundation, at 206-426-5951, or at olivia@sousamendesfoundation.org.