Tags: Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Aristides: the Outcast Hero

Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux in 1940, saved millions of lives during the Holocaust by illegally creating an escape route from France through Spain into Portugal, which was used by some 1 million people during World War II. He was looked down upon as a rebel in his government, but to others, he is a hero who saved many lives during the war.