Honoring A Holocaust Hero

Beginning this past Monday, April 9, the exhibit “These are my people! The story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes” opened in Silicon Valley.

The nationally touring exhibition tells the story of the heroic actions of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who helped 30,000 people escape the horrors of World War II.

The exhibit is free and open to the public in two venues. It is sponsored by the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley and the Consulate General of Israel of the Pacific Northwest Region, in partnership with the Sousa Mendes Foundation. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is the venue host at the downtown San Jose location, and the is the venue host in Los Gatos.

Through his work as a Portuguese diplomat, Sousa Mendes created an escape route through Spain, to Portugal, for World War II refugees. Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer has called his heroic feat “the greatest act of rescue by a single individual during the Holocaust.” Sousa Mendes was censured by his country and died in poverty in 1954.

These are my people! tells the story of Sousa Mendes through 20 panels of photographs, documents and text.

The County exhibition is being presented in conjunction with the Santa Clara County Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony on Tuesday, April 17 at 4 p.m. in the Council Chambers, featuring Sheila Abranches, Aristides de Sousa Mendes’ granddaughter. The Los Gatos exhibition is presented in conjunction with the special event “Heroic Diplomats of WWII” on Sunday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Levy Family Campus Jewish Community Center, co-sponsored with the Addison-Penzak JCC’s Center for Jewish Life and Learning. 

Along with the exhibition the event features a screening of “The Rescuers,” a film by the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Michael King which uncovers the largely unknown stories of 13 heroic diplomats who, like Aristides de Sousa Mendes, saved thousands of Jews at tremendous personal cost to their own lives.

“One cannot hear the story of Sousa Mendes’ immense bravery and integrity, without feeling personally inspired and also better understanding the Talmudic verse that says “whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world,” said Eric Rosenblum, chair of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.

The exhibit is open for viewing:

April 9 – 20, 2012
Santa Clara County Government Building
70 W. Hedding St., San Jose
Ground floor breezeway, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday

April 21 – May 4
Levy Family Campus Jewish Community Center
14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos
Ground floor lobby, 5 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday–Friday; 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
NOTE: ID required for entry to the facility.

The Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley collaborates with government, faith and community entities in the pursuit of social justice and mutual respect across diverse groups. The Sousa Mendes Foundation has a two-fold mission: raising money to build a museum in honor of Sousa Mendes in his home country of Portugal and supporting US-based projects that honor his memory.