January 22, 2026 • 10 mins
During WWII, a diplomat by the name of Aristides de Sousa Mendes disobeyed his government in order to provide safe passage to thousands of people fleeing fascist violence in Europe. Learn how his descendents are working together with descendents of those he saved to tell his story in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/aristides-de-sousa-mendes.htm
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren Boglebaum. Here.
In nineteen forty, less than a year into what would
become the deadliest war ever waged, a lifelong Portuguese diplomat
named Arstidis di Susa Mendez, assigned to a consulate in Bordeaux, France,
(00:22):
was faced with a rending choice defy orders, thereby risking
his position, his very livelihood, and the safety of his
wife and twelve children, or carry out his duties and
leave the fate of tens of thousands of refugees to
advancing Nazi forces. Over eighty years later, Susa mendez story
(00:43):
remains largely unknown, but because of his choice, which almost
certainly saved the lives of many of those refugees and
their families, including thousands of Jewish people, his is a
story that directly touches many thousands more today. For the
article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke
(01:03):
doctor Olivia Mattis, the President and chief operating officer of
the Susan Mendes Foundation. She said, he's a hero. He's
a man who risked everything and lost everything and displayed
incredible moral courage. That's really the key phrase moral courage,
the idea that one person can make a difference. Anyone
(01:24):
can display moral courage if the opportunity presents itself. You
can choose to go left, or you can choose to
go right. There's always the easy choice and the hard choice.
Arstatistics sus amndes do amoral I Abranus was born in
Portugal in eighteen eighty five, and apologies, my Portuguese is terrible.
(01:46):
I did try on that pronunciation anyway. After graduating with
a law degree, he was deployed to Portuguese consulates around
the world at Zanzibar, Brazil, San Francisco, Spain, and Belgium.
In January of nineteen thirty eight, he was assigned to
that Portuguese consulate in Bordeaux, France. The following year, Germany
(02:06):
under Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, a prompting Portugal, trying to
remain neutral in the burgeoning conflict that would become World
War Two, to distribute what was known as Circular fourteen.
This order decreed the Portuguese consuls deny travel into Portugal
for refugees fleeing the Nazi occupied countries in Europe. By
(02:28):
summer of nineteen forty. Throughout Europe, some six to ten
million people were on the move, trying to stay ahead
of the Nazis who had walked into Paris on June fourteenth.
In southern France, the streets of Bordeaux were crammed with
people trying to make it to the border. They slipped
through Spain and into Portugal, where they hoped to obtain
passage by ship to safer places. Knowing what could happen
(02:53):
to him and his family if he defied Circular fourteen,
but seeing the terror unfold before him, uz Amendes was torn.
He had befriended a Polish rabbi by the name of
Heimhertz Kruger and offered visus to him and his family,
but Krueger turned down the offer and tried to convince
sus Amendez to help everyone that he could. After days
(03:17):
of seclusion and prayer, sus Amendes, a devout Catholic, decided
to act. He wrote in a letter at the time,
I have it all in my hands now to save
the many thousands of persons who have come from everywhere
in Europe in the hope of finding sanctuary in Portugal.
They are all human beings and their status in life.
Their religion or color are altogether immaterial to me. With
(03:43):
the help of Rabbi Krueger, his own family, and others,
sus Amendes devised an assembly line like system to stamp
and sign thousands of transit visas for anyone who applied.
He traveled in person to a consulate in southern France
and called to order other diplomats to do the same.
(04:03):
His nephew, Caesar Mendez described the scene. When I arrived
in Bordeaux and approached the Consulate of Portugal, I noticed
immediately that a large crowd of refugees was heading that way.
The closer I got to the consulate, the larger the crowd.
Since May tenth of nineteen forty, until the occupation of
Bordeaux by the Germans, the dining room, the drawing room,
(04:24):
and the consul's offices were at the disposal of the refugees,
scores of them, of both sexes, all ages, including old
and sick people. They were coming and going, pregnant women
who did not feel well, and people who had seen
their relatives die on the highways, killed by airplane machine
gun fire. They slept on chairs on the floor on
(04:45):
the rugs. Tens of thousands of people were granted visas
under Susan Mendez authority. Historians think it may be the
largest rescue action carried out by a single person during
the Holocaust. Among those saved was a seven year old
boy suffering from appendicitis fleeing his home in war ravaged Belgium.
(05:07):
His name at the time was Daniel Matusowitz now Daniel Matis.
He's Olivia's father and a retired professor of physics at
the University of Utah. In all, Susamandes rescued twelve members
of Daniel's immediate family. A dozens more that sprung from
that original twelve, including his daughter, are alive today because
(05:30):
of his actions. And that's just one family represented among
the thousands of people Susamandes saved. Matus said they were
hoping for a miracle, and he was that miracle. In
July of nineteen forty, Susamandes was recalled from Bordeaux to
face trial for his insubordination. He said in court, it
(05:55):
was indeed my aim to save all those people whose
suffering was indescribable. Some had lost their spouses, others had
no news of missing children. Others had seen their loved
ones succumbed to the German bombings, which occurred every day
and did not spare the terrified refugees. How many must
have had to bury them before continuing on their frenzied flight.
(06:19):
Susamndes argued that his actions were not only morally defensible,
but the Portugal's constitution prohibited persecution based on religion. But
in October of nineteen forty he was found guilty, relieved
of his duties, and essentially blacklisted by Portugal's dictatorship for
the rest of his life. He died in nineteen fifty
(06:41):
four at the Franciscan Hospital for the Poor in Lisbon.
Toward the end of his life, Susamandes was asked about
that fateful June. He said, I could not have acted otherwise,
and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love.
Time has been slow to acknowledge Susamndez's sacrifices, but recognition
(07:05):
is coming. He's now often cited alongside Oscar Schindler, the
German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jewish people
during World War II and was memorialized in a novel
and the nineteen ninety three Stephen Spielberg film Schindler's List.
Susamandez children spent decades trying to clear their father's name.
In nineteen sixty six, his daughter Joanna Susamandez finally won
(07:29):
the petition for her father to be named as a
Righteous among the Nations, which is the World Holocaust Remembrance
Center's honorific for non Jews who took great risks to
save Jewish people during the Holocaust. In nineteen eighty seven,
at the urging of the US Congress, the post dictatorship
Portuguese government officially apologized. Susamandes has since been honored with
(07:53):
postage stamps, the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ,
and streets and parks have been named for him. Daniel
Matis never spoke to his daughter about his escape from Europe,
but in twenty ten, while watching French TV from his
home in Salt Lake City, he came upon a little
known two thousand and eight film called Disobedience and immediately
(08:15):
recognized the main character, Susan Mendes, as the man who
had saved his life. Daniel contacted the filmmaker and spoke
with his daughter Olivia, who tracked down members of Susan
Mendes's family through Facebook. Together, along with the descendants of
other family members that he saved, they founded the Susan
Mendes Foundation. Matus said, I realized how much their family suffered,
(08:40):
so my family and families like mine could live. The
foundation has compiled a list of about three thousand, nine
hundred Susan Mendes visa recipients and is constantly looking for more.
The foundation also interviews survivors and gathers their histories, educates
people about their stories, and in twenty twenty four opened
(09:03):
the museum in the restored Susan Mendes home in Portugal.
The sus Amandes Foundation represents one man's courageous and selfless actions,
and the work of the foundation continues in that same
vein today. Matus said, there is a noticeable and documented
rise and hate crimes the last few years. We need
(09:24):
to constantly remind people that violent words lead to violent actions,
and that cannot be tolerated words of incitement. The rise
of the far right is always bad news. That's the
most urgent thing. Our foundation is not going to make
a dent in any of that, but we can try.
(09:49):
Today's episode is based on the article our stiatistic sus
Amendes saved thousands from Holocaust but lost all on HowStuffWorks
dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production
of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is
produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts myheart Radio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(10:09):
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren Boglebaum. Here.
In nineteen forty, less than a year into what would
become the deadliest war ever waged, a lifelong Portuguese diplomat
named Arstidis di Susa Mendez, assigned to a consulate in Bordeaux, France,
(00:22):
was faced with a rending choice defy orders, thereby risking
his position, his very livelihood, and the safety of his
wife and twelve children, or carry out his duties and
leave the fate of tens of thousands of refugees to
advancing Nazi forces. Over eighty years later, Susa mendez story
(00:43):
remains largely unknown, but because of his choice, which almost
certainly saved the lives of many of those refugees and
their families, including thousands of Jewish people, his is a
story that directly touches many thousands more today. For the
article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke
(01:03):
doctor Olivia Mattis, the President and chief operating officer of
the Susan Mendes Foundation. She said, he's a hero. He's
a man who risked everything and lost everything and displayed
incredible moral courage. That's really the key phrase moral courage,
the idea that one person can make a difference. Anyone
(01:24):
can display moral courage if the opportunity presents itself. You
can choose to go left, or you can choose to
go right. There's always the easy choice and the hard choice.
Arstatistics sus amndes do amoral I Abranus was born in
Portugal in eighteen eighty five, and apologies, my Portuguese is terrible.
(01:46):
I did try on that pronunciation anyway. After graduating with
a law degree, he was deployed to Portuguese consulates around
the world at Zanzibar, Brazil, San Francisco, Spain, and Belgium.
In January of nineteen thirty eight, he was assigned to
that Portuguese consulate in Bordeaux, France. The following year, Germany
(02:06):
under Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, a prompting Portugal, trying to
remain neutral in the burgeoning conflict that would become World
War Two, to distribute what was known as Circular fourteen.
This order decreed the Portuguese consuls deny travel into Portugal
for refugees fleeing the Nazi occupied countries in Europe. By
(02:28):
summer of nineteen forty. Throughout Europe, some six to ten
million people were on the move, trying to stay ahead
of the Nazis who had walked into Paris on June fourteenth.
In southern France, the streets of Bordeaux were crammed with
people trying to make it to the border. They slipped
through Spain and into Portugal, where they hoped to obtain
passage by ship to safer places. Knowing what could happen
(02:53):
to him and his family if he defied Circular fourteen,
but seeing the terror unfold before him, uz Amendes was torn.
He had befriended a Polish rabbi by the name of
Heimhertz Kruger and offered visus to him and his family,
but Krueger turned down the offer and tried to convince
sus Amendez to help everyone that he could. After days
(03:17):
of seclusion and prayer, sus Amendes, a devout Catholic, decided
to act. He wrote in a letter at the time,
I have it all in my hands now to save
the many thousands of persons who have come from everywhere
in Europe in the hope of finding sanctuary in Portugal.
They are all human beings and their status in life.
Their religion or color are altogether immaterial to me. With
(03:43):
the help of Rabbi Krueger, his own family, and others,
sus Amendes devised an assembly line like system to stamp
and sign thousands of transit visas for anyone who applied.
He traveled in person to a consulate in southern France
and called to order other diplomats to do the same.
(04:03):
His nephew, Caesar Mendez described the scene. When I arrived
in Bordeaux and approached the Consulate of Portugal, I noticed
immediately that a large crowd of refugees was heading that way.
The closer I got to the consulate, the larger the crowd.
Since May tenth of nineteen forty, until the occupation of
Bordeaux by the Germans, the dining room, the drawing room,
(04:24):
and the consul's offices were at the disposal of the refugees,
scores of them, of both sexes, all ages, including old
and sick people. They were coming and going, pregnant women
who did not feel well, and people who had seen
their relatives die on the highways, killed by airplane machine
gun fire. They slept on chairs on the floor on
(04:45):
the rugs. Tens of thousands of people were granted visas
under Susan Mendez authority. Historians think it may be the
largest rescue action carried out by a single person during
the Holocaust. Among those saved was a seven year old
boy suffering from appendicitis fleeing his home in war ravaged Belgium.
(05:07):
His name at the time was Daniel Matusowitz now Daniel Matis.
He's Olivia's father and a retired professor of physics at
the University of Utah. In all, Susamandes rescued twelve members
of Daniel's immediate family. A dozens more that sprung from
that original twelve, including his daughter, are alive today because
(05:30):
of his actions. And that's just one family represented among
the thousands of people Susamandes saved. Matus said they were
hoping for a miracle, and he was that miracle. In
July of nineteen forty, Susamandes was recalled from Bordeaux to
face trial for his insubordination. He said in court, it
(05:55):
was indeed my aim to save all those people whose
suffering was indescribable. Some had lost their spouses, others had
no news of missing children. Others had seen their loved
ones succumbed to the German bombings, which occurred every day
and did not spare the terrified refugees. How many must
have had to bury them before continuing on their frenzied flight.
(06:19):
Susamndes argued that his actions were not only morally defensible,
but the Portugal's constitution prohibited persecution based on religion. But
in October of nineteen forty he was found guilty, relieved
of his duties, and essentially blacklisted by Portugal's dictatorship for
the rest of his life. He died in nineteen fifty
(06:41):
four at the Franciscan Hospital for the Poor in Lisbon.
Toward the end of his life, Susamandes was asked about
that fateful June. He said, I could not have acted otherwise,
and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love.
Time has been slow to acknowledge Susamndez's sacrifices, but recognition
(07:05):
is coming. He's now often cited alongside Oscar Schindler, the
German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jewish people
during World War II and was memorialized in a novel
and the nineteen ninety three Stephen Spielberg film Schindler's List.
Susamandez children spent decades trying to clear their father's name.
In nineteen sixty six, his daughter Joanna Susamandez finally won
(07:29):
the petition for her father to be named as a
Righteous among the Nations, which is the World Holocaust Remembrance
Center's honorific for non Jews who took great risks to
save Jewish people during the Holocaust. In nineteen eighty seven,
at the urging of the US Congress, the post dictatorship
Portuguese government officially apologized. Susamandes has since been honored with
(07:53):
postage stamps, the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ,
and streets and parks have been named for him. Daniel
Matis never spoke to his daughter about his escape from Europe,
but in twenty ten, while watching French TV from his
home in Salt Lake City, he came upon a little
known two thousand and eight film called Disobedience and immediately
(08:15):
recognized the main character, Susan Mendes, as the man who
had saved his life. Daniel contacted the filmmaker and spoke
with his daughter Olivia, who tracked down members of Susan
Mendes's family through Facebook. Together, along with the descendants of
other family members that he saved, they founded the Susan
Mendes Foundation. Matus said, I realized how much their family suffered,
(08:40):
so my family and families like mine could live. The
foundation has compiled a list of about three thousand, nine
hundred Susan Mendes visa recipients and is constantly looking for more.
The foundation also interviews survivors and gathers their histories, educates
people about their stories, and in twenty twenty four opened
(09:03):
the museum in the restored Susan Mendes home in Portugal.
The sus Amandes Foundation represents one man's courageous and selfless actions,
and the work of the foundation continues in that same
vein today. Matus said, there is a noticeable and documented
rise and hate crimes the last few years. We need
(09:24):
to constantly remind people that violent words lead to violent actions,
and that cannot be tolerated words of incitement. The rise
of the far right is always bad news. That's the
most urgent thing. Our foundation is not going to make
a dent in any of that, but we can try.
(09:49):
Today's episode is based on the article our stiatistic sus
Amendes saved thousands from Holocaust but lost all on HowStuffWorks
dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production
of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is
produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts myheart Radio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(10:09):
your favorite shows.
BrainStuff News
Host
Lauren Vogelbaum
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