About the Family

The VANAGT couple received visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux on June 17, 1940.

Edgard VANAGT was a Belgian lawyer who had been a classmate of Jules d'AOUT, the son-in-law of Aristides de Sousa Mendes. The VANAGT couple were traveling in the company of the Belgian Minister of Colonies Baron Albert de VLEESCHAUWER and his family. Edgard VANAGT assisted Aristides de Sousa Mendes in the visa delivery process.

They crossed into Portugal, where they resided at the Sousa Mendes home in Cabanas de Viriato. They traveled on the vessel Mouzinho from Lisbon to the Belgian Congo in July 1940.

Their three children were born in the Belgian Congo. The family returned to Belgium in 1946.