July 24, 2019 • 12 mins
This week we highlight another little known historical hero. In this case, a Portuguese diplomat who rescued people from Nazi Germany, at his own peril. Dig in and spread the word of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, and welcome to short Stuff. I'm Josh. There's Chuck,
and there's Josh the other Josh, and this is short stuff.
Did I say that already? I don't know enough talk, Chuck.
Let's get to it. We're talking today about a man
who is shamefully or was shamefully overlooked by history, starting
to get his due, finally named Aristide de Susa Mendez
(00:27):
do amaral at Branches. I think I came awfully close.
My Portuguese is a little rusty, seeing as how I've
never spoken a word of it in my life, and
not bad. We can call him, uh, the Portuguese Oscar Schindler,
and that should give you a good idea of where
this episode is headed. Okay, Ariste di Susa Mendez, We're
(00:48):
just gonna leave it at that. Um. By the time
rolled around had become a career diplomat for Portugal, he
was trained as a lawyer and um. By the time
he was assigned to Bordeaux, France in night Um, he
had been all over the world. He was definitely a
senior diplomat in the diplomatic corps for for Portugal. That's right,
(01:11):
so uh. In nineteen thirty eight, like you said he
was in France. World War two comes knocking on his door.
Germany invades Poland, and Portugal was like, I really like,
we're Portuguese. We're not into this World War stuff. I
don't know if you got the memo, but we'd like
to remain sort of neutral and happy over here, growing
olives and drinking wine. Um. And so we're gonna we're
(01:35):
gonna distribute this thing called Circular fourteen that basically says,
all of our our consoles all over the world, you
need to deny travel into Portugal for for refugees. We
don't like that you're being persecuted, but we want to
stay out of this as much as possible. Um A
k A. We don't want to make Hitler mad, so
(01:57):
we're not gonna take your your refugee, including the Jewish people. Right.
And this is the Circular fourteen. It gots sent out
to all consulates in Europe. And um, that was supposed
to be that. But this this, this this came at
like a time chuck, when they were apparently the New
York Times estimated something between six and ten million people
(02:20):
moving around Europe because chaos was just starting to brew
as Germany invaded Poland and then invaded France. Um. It
was pushing and displacing a lot of people around who
are trying to get out of here. Um. And I
looked up, like that's a pretty big number, but like,
what is it in in today's terms? In Germany, ten
(02:41):
million people move around the country a year on their
train system. In a year, this was like at once
there were six to ten million people moving around, and
they were moving around chaotically. But again Portugal said, now
we're not taking part in this. Just just stand there, motionless,
silent and don't do any thing. They're gonna have to
figure out a different way. Uh and and if Germany
(03:04):
gets them, well then that's too bad. And this aristide
to Susa. Mendez said, I don't think I can do that. Yeah.
So he's in southern France. So that was a hot
spot for these refugees because they were thinking we can
from there just go into Spain then right into Portugal.
That's what Lauren but called it. In Casablanca, she she
(03:24):
flew to she flew to Lisbon, that's right. But you know,
I don't think they could fly into Lisbon at the time. Yeah,
they could. She hops on a plane at the end.
Well she did right, sure, Oh oh you're saying the
people who are seeking help from Susan Mendez, that's right, Sure,
sure got you. So he knows that if he goes
directly against his government, this is gonna be bad news
(03:45):
for him. It's gonna be bad news for his family.
He would be wilfully disobeying a direct order of Circular fourteen. Um.
But he befriended a Polish rabbi UH name chime Hurt
Kruga uh, and he offered visas to this guy in
his family. But Krueger was like, you know what, UM,
(04:05):
I don't. I'm gonna turn down this offer because what
you really need to do is save everybody that you can.
And it was a really sort of monumental moment for uh,
for Susan Mendez because he was a devout Catholic and
this guy was a rabbi and you know they they
had their mind on the same thing. It's except the
rabbi was just saying like, be bold, and Susan Mendez
(04:27):
was in fear of his life basically yeah, because I
mean like him him not listening to the Circular fourteen
is not it wasn't like listening. You're not listening to
in order from like the Jimmy Carter administration. There was
a dictator running the show in Portugal at the time
and would continue to run the show until nine seventy
I believe. So it was a real conundrum that he
(04:49):
found himself in. But ultimately he consulted his own conscience
and he said, no, morally, I I have to do something.
I can't just sit by. And he did. He he he
took um, he took the advice of this rabbi and
at the in Bordeaux Um he's set up basically an
assembly line for for stamping and signing any and every
(05:13):
visa application into Portugal that was was handed to him
by anybody. He tried to get as many people safe
passage into Portugal as he he physically could. Yeah, and
I think, given what's uh, I'm going to get minor
political here, what's going on in this country today? We
should read this quote uh from Susan Mindez. I have
(05:33):
it all in my hands now to save the many
thousands of persons who have come from everywhere in Europe
and the hope of finding sanctuary in Portugal. They are
all human beings and their status in life, their religion
or color are all together immaterial to me. So let's
dwell on that during the message break and UH, we'll
be back right after this. I hope that that was
(06:11):
a UM. Everybody got a sixty second mid role from
the A C l U just now. So they're running
a lot of people through this thing. I mean, like
you said, it was like an assembly line, and they
were stamping visas like they were running out of stamps.
They were stamping visa so fast. Yeah, there's there's no
way that he didn't get a hand cramp on the rig. Uh.
(06:35):
Tens of thousands of people, UM, many thousands of which
were Jewish, were granted these visas under his authority. UH.
And it was later said it was perhaps the largest
rescue action by single individual during the Holocaust, and that
includes Oscar Schindler. That's huge, yeah, Schindler. I think UM
was responsible for making sure that twelve hundred people successfully
(06:57):
escaped the Holocaust. UM sus Amendez UH was responsible for
for likely many many thousands more than that, Like they've
identified so far at least thirty eight hundred recipients from
forty nine different countries. UM but they're like, there's there's
thousands and thousands more just from this assembly line that
(07:18):
they set up from I believe the beginning of May
until um July when Bordeaux was overrun by the Nazis
and the whole operation was broken up. So repercussions for sure. Uh.
July nineteen forty, he was recalled from Bordeaux to face
trial for in subordination and uh he basically says in court,
(07:41):
you know what, um, I answered to God, I would
rather stand with God against man than man against God.
And he was convinced that he was had a moral
defense and he was right, and he was convinced that
the actual constitution of Portugal prohibited persecution based on religion,
and he was right there as well. But it didn't
(08:02):
matter because, like you said, they were living under a dictatorship.
In in in October of nineteen forty, he was found guilty.
He was relieved of his duties and blacklisted by the
government for the rest of his life, and very, very
sadly died in nineteen fifty four at the Franciscan Hospital
for the Poor in Lisbon. Yes, not penniless. I noticed
(08:22):
this article said he was broke. I don't know how
much you dislike the word pennyless to describe somebody who
dies broke. I didn't not see that said penniless. There
was like I think in the Tesla episode we did,
you're like, I hate that word really, yeah, because you're like,
I'm sure he's got a penny I didn't know that
he was supposedly didn't have any money, but yeah, he
(08:43):
was broke. I mean like they they broke him. They
basically said, you're not gonna have any more government work, um,
and good luck finding anything but a government work in
a bureaucratic dictatorship. So he, uh, yeah, he was. He
was blacklisted, he was black bald, and he died in
poverty with his family also taken down with him. You know,
like this guy said, and he knew the risk, and
(09:07):
he said, I'm I'm going to put all these other
families in front of my own family. And like, if
you're a utilitarian, that makes a lot of sense because
even two families are worth more than one family. But still,
this is this guy's own family that he's putting under
the under the gun to help all of these others.
But he did not regret it. Towards the end of
his life, he said, I could not have acted otherwise,
(09:29):
and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love.
How's that for a lesson? It is a great lesson.
And now he is typically mentioned along with Oscar Schindler,
who is no slouch himself. No, no, what he did,
but I mean, like Susan Mendez also deserves a decent
amount of credit as well. And slowly but surely it
(09:51):
started to come around. His daughter, Joanna Susa Mendez Um
really started to beat the drum to to revive for
father is standing in the world. In nineteen sixty six,
she got a petition approved so that her father would
be named a righteous among nations, which is what the
(10:11):
Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. It's
an honor that they bestow on non Jews who went
to great links and placed themselves at great risk to
save people from the Holocaust. So that was a big
first step, and that took place in nineteen sixty six.
But they kept going and then eventually a daughter from
(10:35):
one of the people that he saved directly joined this too. Yeah,
I mean he was. He was honored a few times
in eighty seven, the US Congress um convinced the Portuguese
government to officially apologize. And then after these ancestors of
the survivors started coming forward, and they started digging these
people up and compiled of a list. So far, this foundation,
(10:57):
the Susan Mindees Foundation UM, which is co founded by
his grandchildren and descendants of the people that he saved,
which is just an amazing story. Uh. They've compiled a
list of about thirty eight hundred visa recipients in forty
nine different countries, and they are still on the lookout
for more people. It's like this big uh, sort of
dispersed family all over the world. Yeah. And and they
(11:19):
make the point too that not only did he save
all these people, you know, this minimum of thirty eight hundred,
but probably thousands and thousands and thousands more. He he
directly saved their lives, he also ensured the lives of
their offspring who hadn't even been born yet, who are
now born and have have, um, you know, managed to live,
who otherwise wouldn't have lived had it not been this
(11:39):
for the direct intervention of this guy. Amazing. Yeah, So
hats off Aristide Susan Mendez that's a great name. When
you're a great guy. We do a lot of hats
off in these shorties. I like it. I yeah. It's
kind of a celebratory series, isn't it. Yeah? Here and
there is for sure, or we talked about to some weird,
dumb thing that no one knows about ever understands. Right,
(12:01):
but that's what people like, right, that's right. Okay, Well
hopefully you like this one. UM. If not, don't tell us. Okay,
see you later. M H. Stuff you Should Know is
a production of iHeart Radios. How Stuff Works. For more
podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
(12:24):
H
Hey, and welcome to short Stuff. I'm Josh. There's Chuck,
and there's Josh the other Josh, and this is short stuff.
Did I say that already? I don't know enough talk, Chuck.
Let's get to it. We're talking today about a man
who is shamefully or was shamefully overlooked by history, starting
to get his due, finally named Aristide de Susa Mendez
(00:27):
do amaral at Branches. I think I came awfully close.
My Portuguese is a little rusty, seeing as how I've
never spoken a word of it in my life, and
not bad. We can call him, uh, the Portuguese Oscar Schindler,
and that should give you a good idea of where
this episode is headed. Okay, Ariste di Susa Mendez, We're
(00:48):
just gonna leave it at that. Um. By the time
rolled around had become a career diplomat for Portugal, he
was trained as a lawyer and um. By the time
he was assigned to Bordeaux, France in night Um, he
had been all over the world. He was definitely a
senior diplomat in the diplomatic corps for for Portugal. That's right,
(01:11):
so uh. In nineteen thirty eight, like you said he
was in France. World War two comes knocking on his door.
Germany invades Poland, and Portugal was like, I really like,
we're Portuguese. We're not into this World War stuff. I
don't know if you got the memo, but we'd like
to remain sort of neutral and happy over here, growing
olives and drinking wine. Um. And so we're gonna we're
(01:35):
gonna distribute this thing called Circular fourteen that basically says,
all of our our consoles all over the world, you
need to deny travel into Portugal for for refugees. We
don't like that you're being persecuted, but we want to
stay out of this as much as possible. Um A
k A. We don't want to make Hitler mad, so
(01:57):
we're not gonna take your your refugee, including the Jewish people. Right.
And this is the Circular fourteen. It gots sent out
to all consulates in Europe. And um, that was supposed
to be that. But this this, this this came at
like a time chuck, when they were apparently the New
York Times estimated something between six and ten million people
(02:20):
moving around Europe because chaos was just starting to brew
as Germany invaded Poland and then invaded France. Um. It
was pushing and displacing a lot of people around who
are trying to get out of here. Um. And I
looked up, like that's a pretty big number, but like,
what is it in in today's terms? In Germany, ten
(02:41):
million people move around the country a year on their
train system. In a year, this was like at once
there were six to ten million people moving around, and
they were moving around chaotically. But again Portugal said, now
we're not taking part in this. Just just stand there, motionless,
silent and don't do any thing. They're gonna have to
figure out a different way. Uh and and if Germany
(03:04):
gets them, well then that's too bad. And this aristide
to Susa. Mendez said, I don't think I can do that. Yeah.
So he's in southern France. So that was a hot
spot for these refugees because they were thinking we can
from there just go into Spain then right into Portugal.
That's what Lauren but called it. In Casablanca, she she
(03:24):
flew to she flew to Lisbon, that's right. But you know,
I don't think they could fly into Lisbon at the time. Yeah,
they could. She hops on a plane at the end.
Well she did right, sure, Oh oh you're saying the
people who are seeking help from Susan Mendez, that's right, Sure,
sure got you. So he knows that if he goes
directly against his government, this is gonna be bad news
(03:45):
for him. It's gonna be bad news for his family.
He would be wilfully disobeying a direct order of Circular fourteen. Um.
But he befriended a Polish rabbi UH name chime Hurt
Kruga uh, and he offered visas to this guy in
his family. But Krueger was like, you know what, UM,
(04:05):
I don't. I'm gonna turn down this offer because what
you really need to do is save everybody that you can.
And it was a really sort of monumental moment for uh,
for Susan Mendez because he was a devout Catholic and
this guy was a rabbi and you know they they
had their mind on the same thing. It's except the
rabbi was just saying like, be bold, and Susan Mendez
(04:27):
was in fear of his life basically yeah, because I
mean like him him not listening to the Circular fourteen
is not it wasn't like listening. You're not listening to
in order from like the Jimmy Carter administration. There was
a dictator running the show in Portugal at the time
and would continue to run the show until nine seventy
I believe. So it was a real conundrum that he
(04:49):
found himself in. But ultimately he consulted his own conscience
and he said, no, morally, I I have to do something.
I can't just sit by. And he did. He he he
took um, he took the advice of this rabbi and
at the in Bordeaux Um he's set up basically an
assembly line for for stamping and signing any and every
(05:13):
visa application into Portugal that was was handed to him
by anybody. He tried to get as many people safe
passage into Portugal as he he physically could. Yeah, and
I think, given what's uh, I'm going to get minor
political here, what's going on in this country today? We
should read this quote uh from Susan Mindez. I have
(05:33):
it all in my hands now to save the many
thousands of persons who have come from everywhere in Europe
and the hope of finding sanctuary in Portugal. They are
all human beings and their status in life, their religion
or color are all together immaterial to me. So let's
dwell on that during the message break and UH, we'll
be back right after this. I hope that that was
(06:11):
a UM. Everybody got a sixty second mid role from
the A C l U just now. So they're running
a lot of people through this thing. I mean, like
you said, it was like an assembly line, and they
were stamping visas like they were running out of stamps.
They were stamping visa so fast. Yeah, there's there's no
way that he didn't get a hand cramp on the rig. Uh.
(06:35):
Tens of thousands of people, UM, many thousands of which
were Jewish, were granted these visas under his authority. UH.
And it was later said it was perhaps the largest
rescue action by single individual during the Holocaust, and that
includes Oscar Schindler. That's huge, yeah, Schindler. I think UM
was responsible for making sure that twelve hundred people successfully
(06:57):
escaped the Holocaust. UM sus Amendez UH was responsible for
for likely many many thousands more than that, Like they've
identified so far at least thirty eight hundred recipients from
forty nine different countries. UM but they're like, there's there's
thousands and thousands more just from this assembly line that
(07:18):
they set up from I believe the beginning of May
until um July when Bordeaux was overrun by the Nazis
and the whole operation was broken up. So repercussions for sure. Uh.
July nineteen forty, he was recalled from Bordeaux to face
trial for in subordination and uh he basically says in court,
(07:41):
you know what, um, I answered to God, I would
rather stand with God against man than man against God.
And he was convinced that he was had a moral
defense and he was right, and he was convinced that
the actual constitution of Portugal prohibited persecution based on religion,
and he was right there as well. But it didn't
(08:02):
matter because, like you said, they were living under a dictatorship.
In in in October of nineteen forty, he was found guilty.
He was relieved of his duties and blacklisted by the
government for the rest of his life, and very, very
sadly died in nineteen fifty four at the Franciscan Hospital
for the Poor in Lisbon. Yes, not penniless. I noticed
(08:22):
this article said he was broke. I don't know how
much you dislike the word pennyless to describe somebody who
dies broke. I didn't not see that said penniless. There
was like I think in the Tesla episode we did,
you're like, I hate that word really, yeah, because you're like,
I'm sure he's got a penny I didn't know that
he was supposedly didn't have any money, but yeah, he
(08:43):
was broke. I mean like they they broke him. They
basically said, you're not gonna have any more government work, um,
and good luck finding anything but a government work in
a bureaucratic dictatorship. So he, uh, yeah, he was. He
was blacklisted, he was black bald, and he died in
poverty with his family also taken down with him. You know,
like this guy said, and he knew the risk, and
(09:07):
he said, I'm I'm going to put all these other
families in front of my own family. And like, if
you're a utilitarian, that makes a lot of sense because
even two families are worth more than one family. But still,
this is this guy's own family that he's putting under
the under the gun to help all of these others.
But he did not regret it. Towards the end of
his life, he said, I could not have acted otherwise,
(09:29):
and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love.
How's that for a lesson? It is a great lesson.
And now he is typically mentioned along with Oscar Schindler,
who is no slouch himself. No, no, what he did,
but I mean, like Susan Mendez also deserves a decent
amount of credit as well. And slowly but surely it
(09:51):
started to come around. His daughter, Joanna Susa Mendez Um
really started to beat the drum to to revive for
father is standing in the world. In nineteen sixty six,
she got a petition approved so that her father would
be named a righteous among nations, which is what the
(10:11):
Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. It's
an honor that they bestow on non Jews who went
to great links and placed themselves at great risk to
save people from the Holocaust. So that was a big
first step, and that took place in nineteen sixty six.
But they kept going and then eventually a daughter from
(10:35):
one of the people that he saved directly joined this too. Yeah,
I mean he was. He was honored a few times
in eighty seven, the US Congress um convinced the Portuguese
government to officially apologize. And then after these ancestors of
the survivors started coming forward, and they started digging these
people up and compiled of a list. So far, this foundation,
(10:57):
the Susan Mindees Foundation UM, which is co founded by
his grandchildren and descendants of the people that he saved,
which is just an amazing story. Uh. They've compiled a
list of about thirty eight hundred visa recipients in forty
nine different countries, and they are still on the lookout
for more people. It's like this big uh, sort of
dispersed family all over the world. Yeah. And and they
(11:19):
make the point too that not only did he save
all these people, you know, this minimum of thirty eight hundred,
but probably thousands and thousands and thousands more. He he
directly saved their lives, he also ensured the lives of
their offspring who hadn't even been born yet, who are
now born and have have, um, you know, managed to live,
who otherwise wouldn't have lived had it not been this
(11:39):
for the direct intervention of this guy. Amazing. Yeah, So
hats off Aristide Susan Mendez that's a great name. When
you're a great guy. We do a lot of hats
off in these shorties. I like it. I yeah. It's
kind of a celebratory series, isn't it. Yeah? Here and
there is for sure, or we talked about to some weird,
dumb thing that no one knows about ever understands. Right,
(12:01):
but that's what people like, right, that's right. Okay, Well
hopefully you like this one. UM. If not, don't tell us. Okay,
see you later. M H. Stuff you Should Know is
a production of iHeart Radios. How Stuff Works. For more
podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
(12:24):
H
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