Journey Private Page 2016

TRIP PARTICIPANTS

- Mariana Abrantes
  
  TOUR CO-LEADER
  The dramatic events of 1940 came alive for me the first time I took this Journey, coming to feel and to understand the persecution and the fear which forced so many people to flee, but also the courage of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the hope of the refugees looking for a safe haven in Portugal and beyond. Knowing when to take a stand, be it Charles de Gaulle's "Appel à la Résistance" or Aristides de Sousa Mendes's decision to "Save them All," two shining events in an otherwise dark period of history lead us to reflect on how we react to everyday dramas around us. I'm still wondering: Just how did the fragile-looking stairs of the consulate in Bayonne resist the avalanche of visa seekers? And did the refugees feel they had found a "little bit of home" when they saw the gracious French-style mansion of Casa do Passal in the midst of the Dão vineyards?
- Elisabeth Andriesse
  
  ANDRIESSE-VAN DEN BERGH FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  My family was from Holland. In separate groups and at different times several of my immediate family members (father, grandfather, aunt & uncle, great-grandmother, cousins) were able to escape the Holocaust via Portugal and found safety in the US. Some may have been Sousa Mendes visa recipients, others were not, but they all travelled in the same direction: from Hendaye or Bayonne, by land or by sea, to Lisbon. The Journey on the Road to Freedom provides an important opportunity to relive those days together with the other participants and to pay tribute to the memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes who, so heroically, made countless journeys to freedom possible.
- Karen and Bruce Denker
  
  BACALEINIC FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  As the daughter of a visa recipient we are looking forward to learning more about my Mother's family's path to freedom. We want to learn more about this heroic man who risked everything to help refugees escape persecution. Without Aristides de Sousa Mendes none of us would be here today. We are interested in meeting other families and hearing their stories. It will be a great trip.
  -Karen Denker
- Michelle Linton
  
  BACALEINIC FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I am joining my husband, Ron, on this journey of remembrance: to honor the courageous Diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes. The revered Aristides saved the lives of Ron's dear Grandparents, Ancel Bacaleinic and Sura Levine Bacaleinic, and their three young children. Sura and Ancel lovingly welcomed our infant son, Matthew, thirty-four years ago. With Aristides' selfless decision to grant life-saving visas to our family, he indeed allowed for precious and promising new life. As we retrace the paths taken by our Grandparents who were desperate for new beginnings, we will honor Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a man of immeasurable virtue.
- Ronald Linton
  
  BACALEINIC FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  This trip is in memory of my Grandparents, Ancel Bacaleinic and Sura Levine Bacaleinic, whose very survival depended on the courage and resolve of Aristides de Sousa Mendes. I look forward to tracing the perilous steps my family took to ensure a future for their children, Tamara, Leon and Michael. My Mother, Tamara, and Father, Vladimir Litwinczak, thus have created a family that includes my wife, Michelle, my son, Matthew, and my Grandchildren, Elara and Soren. We honor the Diplomat, Aristides de Sousa Mendes and his family who suffered for those who were helpless to escape the atrocities of war.
- Lisa Bernath
  
  PARTICIPANT
  As a Holocaust educator for the past two years at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, I always bring my family stories to my tours. However, I love learning about other stories, other parts of Europe and bring those to my tours as well. I learned quite a bit about Sempo Sugihara as I traveled to Shanghai for work last year. It was so exciting and personal to lead a Chinese church group though the museum a few days after my return. I learned more about Sousa Mendes recently, and the opportunity to travel "The Road to Freedom" sounds like a trip of a lifetime that I couldn't imagine missing. I look forward to meeting everyone during this meaningful experience.
- Stephanie Barrett
  
  BLAUKOPF FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I'm really happy to be joining my husband, Robert Blaukopf, on this journey. It has been an amazing experience watching Robert, in these past few years, discover the history of how his grandparents were able to leave France and find safety in Portugal. Now we will retrace their steps, and perhaps allow history to work its magic. Embracing one's past opens doors to the future. I look forward to experiencing this historical journey and to seeing what opens up inside of us as we participate in something so pivotal in the history of the family.
- Robert Blaukopf
  
  BLAUKOPF FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  My grandparents, Herbert and Anna Blaukopf, received visas from Sousa Mendes. After Portugal, they were able to go to the United States and join my father who had gone there earlier. It was only a few years ago that I learned how my grandparents had escaped. It's hard for me to imagine that the dignified, calm and loving grandparents that I remember went through the experiences that they did in fleeing their home in Vienna and going to the US. In a real sense, I grew up in a family that I didn't know. Going on the 'Journey' is part of learning about my family and myself. I look forward to meeting people with this shared history. My wife, Stephanie Barrett, and I have moved from the US to Vienna, returning to the family roots.
- Monique Krohn
  
  BLUM FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I am going on the trip to experience the physical journey that my grandparents and mother took in 1940 and hopefully, to understand their situation better, including the conflicting emotions they must have had of fear, relief and hope. I look forward to talking to and getting to know as many visa recipients and their descendants as possible to get a better sense of how the incredible efforts of Sousa Mendes have played out in future generations.
- Deborah de Winter
  
  DE WINTER FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  My grandparents, Levie (Leo) and Ella de Winter received visas and other important assistance from Sousa Mendes. Photos and artifacts of this family history, with a testimony from my father, Rudolph de Winter, are on the web site of the Sousa Mendes Foundation, under "List of Known Visa Recipients." My father and his wife went on this journey in 2013 and found it fascinating and meaningful. Now I look forward to deepening my appreciation of my family's history and honoring the righteous deeds of Sousa Mendes.
- Manuel Dias
  
  TOUR CO-LEADER
  Manuel Dias Vaz est un humaniste citoyen du Monde, un Européen franco-portugais, un homme de convictions passionné par ses multiples engagements. Il participe à faire vivre et partager les valeurs universelles d'humanisme, de tolérance, de respect, de solidarité, et de fraternité. Manuel est docteur en sociologie de l'université de Bordeaux. Il préside le Rahmi (Réseau aquitain pour l'histoire et la mémoire de l'immigration), la section bordelaise de la Ligue des droits de l'homme. Il est vice-président et fondateur du Comité national français en hommage à Aristides de Sousa Mendes, et membre fondateur du Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration. Manuel a consacré trente ans de sa vie à faire connaître l'histoire lumineuse d'Aristides de Sousa Mendes, des Justes parmi les Nations, et des Résistants durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
- Jeffrey Jarvik
  
  FEINGOLD FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I accompanied my mother on the last commemorative trip honoring Aristides de Sousa Mendes and it was life-changing. My mother, her sister and her parents all received life-saving visas allowing them to travel through Spain to Portugal where they waited 9 months before boarding a boat to the U.S. I met many descendants of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and felt an immediate kinship. We are acutely aware that our 2 daughters and our 12 year old son, Ethan Aristides, would not be around if it weren’t for the heroism of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
- Laurence Jarvik and Nancy Strickland
  
  FEINGOLD FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  Nancy and I are taking the de Sousa Mendes tour to accompany my mother.
  - Laurence Jarvik
- Lissy Jarvik
  
  FEINGOLD FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
- Daniel Frankfort and Cedar Davis-Frankfort
  
  FRANKFORT FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  My ancestors (my father and grandparents) were helped by the Sousa Mendes family and I would like my son to experience their journey and learn more about his ancestry.
  -Daniel Frankfort
- Reina Frankfort
  
  FRANKFORT FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  Being the first generation born in the US from my father's family (Frankfort) is elating and heartbreaking in the same breath. While I feel extremely fortunate to have an opportunity to be alive because of the brave and compassionate acts of Sousa Mendes, I also feel the loss of never having known most of my family. I am hoping this trip will give me a fresh connection to my past by shedding light on my cultural heritage, connecting me with others who may share a similar sentiment so I may have a chance to fully acknowledge who I am, where I come from, and my place in this story.
- Gaia Starr
  
  FRANKFORT FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  The story I grew up hearing from my mother who was 12 when they fled was, 'we were refugees who left after the Germans dropped their bombs on May 10 in Brussels, the day before uncle Jimmy's 10th birthday. Opa would not let go of the front gate.' Snippets of details would emerge every now and then. However whenever I asked about that event in her life my mother would say, and I am quoting from my memory of her saying this, 'we left Brussels by car, we were called refugees deluxe, traveled through France and then finally were able to leave from Portugal'. She told me she and her brother had fun adventures while they were in Portugal. Apparently they were shielded well from the anxiety her parents and older sister were going through during this period. In 1980 I discovered a yellowing folded piece of paper amongst some photographs which were kept in a box, it had the passport style id images of her father, mother, sister, herself and her brother with dates and signatures and stamped locations. My mother told me these were papers of transit that they used to "escape". It was at that time I also learned that her father, my Opa, lost some important papers needed to continue on with their journey, so he "had to go back". Again I never got the full story about what that was all about. My mother fondly remembered her journey on the Japanese boat which took them from Lisbon to Baltimore, USA where they were the first Jewish refugee family to land in Baltimore. There is a newspaper photo which is on the Sousa Mendes Facebook page of them disembarking the boat. In 2007 while she suffered with Alzheimer's dementia she would fondly repeat over and over the story of that boat experience she had. Fast forward to 2011 when I found out that my mother and her family were one of 30 thousand recipients of the Sousa Mendes visas to freedom through Portugal. I was never able to share with my mother this newly found information, due to her Alzheimer's dementia, she passed in 2014. Regrettably I never asked my Opa about this event either, nor did I ever hear him speak of it. What I would ask him now if I could! It is for this reason that I am choosing to take this journey, in the hopes of putting together more missing pieces of the Jacques Frankfort family puzzle and honoring the bravery my grandparents had during their personal historic journey.
- Edie Greenbaum
  
  PARTICIPANT
  Both my parents survived the Holocaust, and I was born shortly after in Prague. I am getting ready to retire in 2017, and it is my goal to volunteer at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. I wish to enlighten and educate as many people as possible. The need has never been stronger. The opportunity to partake in the story of Sousa Mendes and retrace its journey is one that I look forward to being a part of.
- Larry Grimes
  
  PARTICIPANT
  Being an educator who taught a one year course on the Holocaust, participating on this trip only adds more knowledge. Having been to Yad Vashem and speaking to many Righteous Among Nations recipients, following the footsteps of the refugees and Aristides de Sousa Mendes can only enhance my learning. By the way I hung his picture in my classroom. He was a unique man, who followed his convictions.
- Zachary Donnenfield
  
  HAHN FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I am participating in this trip to better understand the history of my family's escape from France to Portugal. Although the rest of my family cannot come, I want to act as an emissary for them by documenting and sharing my experiences during this trip. It is very important to me that I understand what events led to my family's arrival in the United States. I'm looking forward to becoming much more knowledgeable about Sousa Mendes, and what he did for me.
- Jorge Helft and Sylvie Robert
  
  HELFT FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  My family (mother and two brothers) and I spent part of the “drole de guerre” (Sept. 1939 to May 1940) in Bordeaux waiting for “things to happen.” My father remained in Paris to close his gallery and contribute with “défense passive,” a private organization ready to help in case of bombardments. During April and May 1940 we had moved closer to Paris at friends’ house in the Loire valley. The day that Nazi troops entered Paris, my father left. He was driving. He came to pick us up taking 14 hours for the 220 kms. trip due to the “exode.” We left immediately for Bordeaux where my grandmother, two uncles and aunts plus their children were already located. After a tormentous family gathering, my father declared that we would be leaving for Spain and Portugal as soon as possible. My uncles were not as anxious but finally decided to follow. The following day, my mother obtained our 17 passports and then went to the Portuguese consulate expecting to spend many hours or possibly a couple of days in the queue. Much to her surprise, she was attended by the Consul and obtained our 17 visas in a couple of minutes. During more than 50 years thereafter she still did not understand why this had happened….. The next day we all left for the Spanish frontier where we waited on line during 3 days and 2 nights before crossing the bridge from Hendaye to Irún…..
  -Jorge Helft
- Bernard Josefsberg and Tae Terumoto
  
  JOSEFSBERG FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  My parents left Vienna in August, 1938, ending up in Paris. After September, 1939, my father faced either internment or the French Foreign Legion. He chose the Legion, but failed the physical, eventually landing in a Bordeaux transit camp as a stateless refugee. When France collapsed in May/June 1940, my mother fled south to join my father, reuniting with him two weeks later. Aristides de Sousa Mendes issued transit visas to everyone in that camp. But, my parents were a day late: "the Spanish authorities refused to let us through." Two years later they escaped from France into Switzerland.
  -Bernard Josefsberg
- Evelyn and Rebel Good
  
  KAUFMANN FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  We are taking this trip to learn more about what my mother and her family went through to flee Europe for the United States.
  -Rebel Good
- JOAN AND ITZHAK HALPERIN
  
  KRAKOWIAK FAMILY
  TOUR CO-LEADER AND PARTICIPANT
  I had long been planning a trip to retrace my family’s route as they fled Belgium “… always one step ahead of the bombs.” The only problem was that besides a sketchy outline of their escape route, grudgingly given by my mother in a 1997 interview, I had only a vague notion of where to go. My participation in the 2013 “Journey on the Road to Freedom” changed all of that. Thanks to the expert guidance of Olivia, Gerald and Manuel, I not only experienced their every move, but felt like I was there. Now, as Director of Educational Initiatives for the Sousa Mendes Foundation, I am enjoying the gift of being able to share my gratitude to Aristides de Sousa Mendes with his descendants and everyone I meet one on one and before groups. Looking forward to meeting you all.
  -Joan Halperin
- Olivia Mattis
  
  MATUZEWITZ FAMILY
  TOUR CO-LEADER
  I am a musicologist by training and profession and grew up in Scarsdale, NY. My father and eleven other members of my family received visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes as they fled from Belgium in May and June of 1940. In 2010 I co-founded the Sousa Mendes Foundation, which I ran for five years on top of my full-time job in academic administration. Now I am devoting my daytime hours to the Foundation, and feel very fulfilled.
- Gianna Pontecorboli
  
  PARTICIPANT
  I will be very happy to participate to the trip. As the daughter of a couple of Jewish refugees in Switzerland and as a relative of some refugees in the United States, I always followed the stories of Jews' escapes from the Nazis with special interest in my work as a journalist. I also wrote a book, published both in Italian and English, about the Italian Jews who took refuge in the United States.
- René and Robert Pozniak
  
  PARTICIPANTS
  I have been in Holocaust education for the past 25 years, having been employed by a large Jewish Day School, where I taught the history and lessons of the Holocaust to senior high school students. I have done courses at Yad Vashem, and am currently employed at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center in South Africa. The major focus of our work there is to try and encourage everybody not to be a bystander, but rather to be an upstander/activist. I also take the March of the Living Youth Tour to Poland every year. Being afforded the honour of going on a tour such as this one is a very exciting prospect. To be able to follow the footsteps of those that were saved by such a courageous man, together with many people that owe their lives to him, is indeed an honour. This will be a real life experience of an aspect of the Holocaust that truly fascinates me. I look forward to debating many issues, but most importantly, to trying to understand how ordinary people managed to rise above their fear and do extraordinary things. My husband Robert is widely read on the Holocaust and has also been to Poland twice. The fact that we can share this unique experience together will only make the journey more meaningful. Robert has enhanced my study of this subject by reading and sharing newfound knowledge with me constantly. He has been directly impacted by these tragic events, in that his late father managed to get out of Eastern Europe with his uncle and grandfather, whilst his grandmother and two aunties were not able to get out of Poland in time. This journey will have very personal overtones for him as well. - René Pozniak
- Paul Rozenfeld
  
  ROZENFELD FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I will be joining the last few days of the tour to unite with my father and sister. I am interested in experiencing the connections between the places and people on the tour. Being able to honor Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the visa recipients by directly participating in a segment of this journey is a privilege.
- Stephen and Linda Rozenfeld
  
  ROZENFELD FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  My name is Stephen Rozenfeld. I was born in Lodz, Poland in 1934. In August 1939, before the invasion, my father was out of the country on a business trip. In January 1940 my mother and I fled Lodz and were reunited with my father in Belgium. My daughter and I are taking this trip to retrace the path my parents and I followed after receiving visas issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes. His act saved my parents and me. We arrived here in July 1940. I have resided in New Rochelle for 49 years, and, helped raise our four children.
  -Stephen Rozenfeld
- Leah Sills
  
  ROZENFELD FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  My name is Leah Sills, and I am the youngest daughter of Stephen Rozenfeld, a visa recipient. I am looking forward to meeting other families who have been impacted by Sousa Mendes and learning the history, timeline and location of my father's exodus from Poland. It should be a wonderful learning experience, and I am blessed to share it with my father.
- Jackie Schwarz
  
  SCHRAUB FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  As part of the Sousa Mendes Foundation research team, I have looked at so many of these names, searched through so many files, found photographs that have brought your families so vividly to life for me and for the Foundation, and so many family links that I have the feeling that I have an extended family. To travel together through places that have meant so much to our families and to honour the memory of a brave person who made this possible is really a moment I wish to be part of.
- Arlene and Clifford Sher
  
  PARTICIPANTS
  I work as an educator at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre. My husband Clifford has become as interested as me and we both have a fascination and never ending interest in the stories and history of the Holocaust. My work involves educating the youth about choices made by people in the Holocaust with an emphasis on resistance and rescue during this period. We would consider it an honor and privilege to be a part of this trip to meet fellow educators, members of the families saved by Aristides Sousa Mendes as well as to meet members of his family.
  -Arlene Sher
- Gerald Mendes
  
  SOUSA MENDES FAMILY
  TOUR CO-LEADER
  I'm very pleased and honored to join this 3rd edition of the "Journey on the Road to Freedom" that will bring us together in the footsteps of the refugees, of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and his family. Other family members will join us as well in different parts of this trip. I look forward to hearing your testimonies and personal stories, as each one of them enriches and documents the story of my grandfather, Aristides de Sousa Mendes. This Journey will also take us to beautiful areas of France, of Spain and finally Portugal, where the refugees were greeted with so much humanity in 1940, despite the shameful "Circular14" of Salazar.
- Sebastian Michael Edward Mendes
  
  SOUSA MENDES FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  Why might I join this voyage? It’s a pilgrimage, with a chance to reflect and meditate upon what my grandfather’s life and actions mean to me as an artist. Much of my artistic work during the past ten years has been a project that responds to the legacy of my grandfather and is amenable to my interests in contemporary art. It’s deeply connected to my daily life. I look forward to joining my family and those who would like to further immerse themselves into the mysteries and meanings of the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
- Michal, Ami, and Dedi Gaon
  
  STOLZ FAMILY
  PARTICIPANTS
  The reason for the trip: In the beginning of 1940 my father's family fled the Nazis leaving hastily their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium into France. As the Germans approached they escaped further and further south towards Spain and Portugal along the French coast. In Bayonne, France they finally received Visas to Portugal on 20th June 1940 from the deputy Portuguese consul by instructions of Mr. Sousa Mendes. They crossed the border to Spain and then to Portugal, and later continued on to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and survived that horrible period. It would be just thrilling for us to follow the footsteps of our family flight, and ultimately rescue, almost point by point.
  -Ami Gaon
- Adi Gaon
  
  STOLZ FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
- Andrew Tetzeli
  
  TETZELI FAMILY
  PARTICIPANT
  I'm Andrew Tetzeli, son of John Tetzeli, and grandson of Ludvik (Lutz) Tetzeli, recipient with his wife, my grandmother Sophie Tetzeli, of visa nos. 1753 and 1754 from Aristides de Sousa Mendes. This trip is for me a way to commemorate the sacrifices made by Mr. Sousa Mendes so that so many could live, including my family. The trip is especially personal to me, to witness the path to freedom that my father, then just 8 years old, took, and because both my parents went through the travails of being refugees twice, first in fleeing Europe, then their adoptive country, Cuba.