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The Wallenberg Foundation pays tribute to five Saviors of World War II
 
Wednesday, April 26th. The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation honored five Saviors of Portuguese speaking countries together with the Consulates of Portugal and Brazil in New York on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The homaging ceremony took place on Wednesday, April 26th at the Brazilian Consulate, located at 1185 Avenue of the Americas on the 21st floor.
 
Saviors honored included Portuguese diplomats Alberto Carlos de Liz-Teixeira Branquinho, Carlos de Almeida Sampayo Garrido and Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Consul General of Portugal in Bordeaux in 1940. He issued more than 30,000 life-saving Portuguese visas. Ten thousand were for Jews and 20,000 were for other refugees. Mendes saved the entire royal Habsburg family, including the Empress Zita. In addition, he saved the entire Belgian cabinet in exile. Mendes personally conducted hundreds of Jewish refugees across a border checkpoint on the Spanish frontier. All of his lives saving activities were done against the orders and policies of his government. He was sacked by his government and lost all of his property. He died in poverty in Lisbon in 1954. In November of 1995, Portugal restored his career and awarded him a special medal for saving lives. He was the first diplomat recognized by Yad Vashem.

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/es/righteous/stories/mendes.asp
http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=4014504
http://sousamendesfoundation.org/
http://www.fundacaoaristidesdesousamendes.com/
 

Carlos de Almeida Afonseca Sampayo Garrido

Minister Plenipotentiary, Acting Ambassador of Portugal in Budapest from 1939 to 1944. Dr. Garrido helped large numbers of Hungarian Jews who came to the Portuguese diplomatic mission in 1944 seeking Portuguese protection. Along with Branquinho, his successor, he rented houses and apartments to shelter and protect refugees from deportation and murder. He was instrumental in establishing the policy for the protection of Portuguese Jews in Hungary. In May 1944, he was reposted to Switzerland and on several occasions intervened on behalf of Jews from his post in Switzerland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nORwui6hRmg
http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=6697421
http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/righteousName.html?language=en&itemId=6697421
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/es/education/articles/article_mucznik6.asp
 

Alberto Carlos de Liz-Teixeira Branquinho

Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho 1902-1973

Portuguese Chargé d’Affaires in Budapest in 1944. He obtained permission from the Portuguese government to issue safe conducts to all persons who had relatives in Portugal, Brazil, or the Portuguese colonies. Each safe conduct was signed by Branquinho. After October 15, 1944, there was a great demand for these documents. Branquinho was authorized to issue 500 safe conducts, but in actual fact issued more than 800. Soon, the Portuguese established several safe houses to shelter the 800 protected Jews. Despite constant raids by the Arrow Cross, the Portuguese houses remained relatively safe throughout the war. He also established an office of the Portuguese Red Cross at the Portuguese legation to care for Jewish refugees.

Quem salva uma vida, salva um mundo inteiro
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