Lecture

The Moscow War Memorial Synagogue presents Semyon Pinkhasov‘s must-see documentary about Aristides de Sousa Mendes.  In June 2013, Pinkhasov followed a group of 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 and clues of a lost history in an effort to understand their personal pasts.  In attendance will be the filmmaker as well as Sousa Mendes visa recipient Sarah Goodman, coming specially from Israel.  47 min.

Joan Arnay Halperin and Monique Rubens Krohn, both daughters and granddaughters of Sousa Mendes visa recipients, share their family histories to tell the story of how a single act of moral courage reverberates through the generations.

Free and open to the public.

Monique Rubens Krohn will share the moving true story of how her family escaped Nazi-occupied Europe with the help of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

Joan Halperin and Diana Cooper-Clark will speak about Polish refugees who escaped Nazi-occupied Europe via Portugal, many with visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes, and found refuge on the island of Jamaica.  The talk is part of a two-day conference organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Anshe Emet Synagogue presents excerpts from the film Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story.  Paulette Freed, whose family was saved by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, will present the story of her family’s escape from Nazi-occupied Europe and her own pilgrimage to retrace her family’s footsteps to freedom.  To register for the event, and purchase optional memorial candles, please go here:  http://tinyurl.com/yomhashoah5778.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami, in collaboration with Temple Beth Am, presents “Leah’s Journey” — a presentation by Rebecca Barber telling the dramatic true story of a 19-year old German teen who keeps a diary while she and her family desperately flee across Europe.  Rebecca will recount the rescue by Aristides de Sousa Mendes of her mother, Leah Steppel, along with thousands of others.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Philadelphia presents a program on the Holocaust rescuers Aristides de Sousa Mendes and Chiune Sugihara.  Monique Rubens Krohn, Board Member of the Sousa Mendes Foundation, will speak about Sousa Mendes.  Open to the public.  $5 for non-members.

Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, the leading world authority on the Righteous Diplomats, will speak in an intimate wine-and-cheese gathering to which you are invited!  Dr. Paldiel is the former director of the Righteous Among the Nations department at Yad Vashem and will speak about Chiune Sugihara, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Georg Duckwitz and other heroes.  

Also speaking will be Armand Lerner, a Sousa Mendes visa recipient, and Chaim Jaskoll, whose family was saved by Sugihara. On view during this special event will be the ceramic novel “Journey Maps 1940” by Gaia Starr, depicting her family’s exodus from Nazi-occupied Europe with the help of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

This is a very special event that you won’t want to miss!  If you plan to come, kindly RSVP to info@sousamendesfoundation.org. Or give us a call at (877) 797-9759.

In recognition of the special relationship between the city of New Bedford, MA and the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Jewish Federation of New Bedford will present a gift to the Sousa Mendes Foundation on the occasion of the annual Yom Hashoah service of the city of New Bedford at Buttonwood Park.  Representing the Foundation will be Robert Jacobvitz, Chair of the Advisory Council, who played a key role in the early recognitions of Sousa Mendes in New Bedford and elsewhere in the 1980s.  Representing the Jewish Federation will be Amir Cohen, Executive Director.

Stefan Rozenfeld was born in 1934 in Lodz, Poland. His father, Abraham, was a ribbon manufacturer traveling in Belgium when World War II began on September 1, 1939. Separated from his wife Eugenia (Jenny) and Stefan, Abraham organized a daring escape that reunited the family.  However, without the help of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux, France, the Rozenfeld family would never had mad it to safety.  Stefan Rozenfeld and his daughter Leah Rozenfeld Sills will tell his, and their family story.

This discussion is part of the Harold A. Gottesman ’50 Lecture Series and is open to the public.