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October 2017

Gala event: “A Toast to Freedom!”

October 29, 2017 @ 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Museum of Jewish Heritage,
36 Battery Place
New York, NY United States
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A Toast to Freedom

Come join us at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in a beautiful setting next to the Statue of Liberty for a gala luncheon — “A Toast to Freedom!” — to benefit the Sousa Mendes Foundation.

Master of Ceremonies:
Actor Michel Gill (“House of Cards”), the son and grandson of Sousa Mendes visa recipients.

Honoring:
Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York’s 10th Congressional District, recognized by Time magazine for his political courage;

Dr. Eva Fogelman, psychologist and advocate for Holocaust survivors; author of the seminal book on Holocaust rescue, Conscience & Courage;

Maggie Favretti, teacher at Scarsdale High School; founder and advisor of the group Students for Refugees in Westchester County.

Live musical performance:
Highlights from “Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides” with tenor Benjamin Sloman as Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Michel Gill narrating as his twin brother César, soprano Marina Harris as Angelina de Sousa Mendes, tenor Gilad Paz as Salazar, Pedro da Silva on Portuguese guitar, and the composer Neely Bruce at the piano.

Flowers provided by Amy’s Greenhouse.

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June 2019

Lecture: Aristides de Sousa Mendes, A Man of Conscience

June 23, 2019 @ 11:45 am - 1:00 pm
Hotel Iberostar,
Rua Castilho, 64
Lisbon, Portugal
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Mariana Abrantes

Mariana Abrantes de Sousa, Treasurer of the Sousa Mendes Foundation, will speak about Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the work of the Sousa Mendes Foundation during the International Council of B’nai B’rith Meeting from June 23-25, 2019.  Mariana’s talk will be held on Sunday, June 23rd at 11:45 a.m. and will be followed by a testimonial of Monica Barzilay, whose family received visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

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August 2019
$20 - $120

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Jewish Refugees She Saved: The Story of the S. S. Quanza

August 11, 2019 @ 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Center for Jewish History,
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011 United States
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SOLD OUT!

 

Quanza refugees

Passengers on board the Quanza, unable to disembark, 1940

 

The Sousa Mendes Foundation and the American Sephardi Federation present the New York premiere of the documentary film, Nobody Wants Us (2019, dir. Laura Seltzer-Duny) on Sunday, August 11, 2019, 2-4:30 p.m. at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York City.

 

Synopsis:

In 1940, a ship called the S.S. Quanza left the port of Lisbon carrying several hundred Jewish refugees —  most of whom held Sousa Mendes visas — to freedom.  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 herself 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 were “future patriotic Americans.”  This is an episode in American history that everyone needs to know.

 

Program:

The film, which is 35 minutes in length, will be introduced by the filmmaker Laura Seltzer-Duny and followed by a panel discussion moderated by Michael Dobbs of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, author of The Unwanted.  Other participants will include:

Blanche Wiesen Cook, the leading world expert on Eleanor Roosevelt and the author of her three-volume biography.

Annette Lachmann, who was a passenger on the Quanza in 1940.

Kathleen Rand, whose father Wolf Rand was the passenger who successfully filed suit against the shipping company, forcing the vessel to remain in port until the conflict was resolved.

Stephen Morewitz, the leading world expert on the Quanza story, whose grandparents’ Newport News, Virginia law firm of Morewitz & Morewitz was hired by Wolf Rand and successfully litigated the case.

 

Significance of the story:

According to Michael Dobbs, “The Quanza incident is a timely reminder that individuals make a difference.  Without visas supplied by the Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, many of the Jewish passengers on board the Quanza might well have been stranded in Nazi-occupied Europe.  Without the legal brilliance of a maritime lawyer named Jacob Morewitz, the ship would have been obliged to sail back to Europe. Without the intervention of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the passengers would not have been permitted to land.   It took three people, from entirely different backgrounds, to save dozens of lives that might otherwise have been lost.”

 

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March 2020

Librarian Training Seminar on Long Island

March 11, 2020 @ 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Nassau BOCES Robert E. Lupinskie Center,
1 Merrick Avenue
Westbury, NY 11590 United States
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joan

In this workshop for Holocaust educators and librarians, Joan Arnay Halperin will be presenting her book, My Sister’s Eyes, dealing with how her family was saved during the war by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese diplomat, who permitted thousands of desperate refugees safe passage via France from the Nazis.  The role of Rescuers will be discussed. Who is considered a Righteous Among the Nations? Most importantly the difference individuals and communities can make when they believe in moral responsibility and right conduct.  Note:  This event is restricted to Long Island-based school librarians.

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