The Aristides de Sousa Mendes Foundation and the Municipality of Carregal do Sal will be opening the Aristides de Sousa Mendes Museum on 19 July, the date that marks the anniversary of the birth of the Portuguese consul who helped save Jews during the Second World War. The event will be attended by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Portugal has four people who are "Righteous among the Nations" – and Aristides de Sousa Mendes is the best known of them all. The diplomat was working in Bordeaux in 1940 when he disobeyed orders from the Portuguese government and granted thousands of entry visas into Portugal to Jews of many nationalities who had to flee occupied France.
