I Prefer to Be on God's Side

About a year ago, I had the honor of speaking with Gerald Mendes, the grandson of one of the Righteous Among the Nations who saved the most Jews during the Holocaust: the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

Portugal was one of the few European countries that remained neutral during World War II. Thanks to this neutrality, it could serve as a safe haven for Jews fleeing the Nazis. But in May 1940, with the German invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands, the Portuguese government began to fear inciting the Nazis' wrath if it continued to accept Jewish refugees. A clear directive was sent to diplomats across Europe: do not issue transit visas to Jewish refugees—only British citizens with a recommendation from the British consul would receive a visa.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

In Bordeaux, tens of thousands of desperate Jewish refugees were crowded, not only from France but also from Belgium. One of them was the chief rabbi of Antwerp, Rabbi Chaim Kruger, who fled to France with his five children. Rabbi Kruger met with the Portuguese consul, de Sousa Mendes, and openly told him what was expected to become of the Jews if they could not escape the Nazis.

Mendes was an experienced diplomat, from a noble family, and used to following commands. But he was also genuinely religious, and Rabbi Kruger's words shook him to the core. He decided to ignore the orders and issue visas to any Jewish refugee who requested one. For 12 days in June 1940, Mendes, with the help of his wife and two elder sons, tirelessly issued visas to no fewer than 12,000 Jewish refugees. He also refused any compensation. When a wealthy Jew arrived at the consulate with sacks of gold and offered Mendes half in exchange for a visa, Mendes issued him a visa but refused the gold.

Mendes knew that the dictatorial regime then ruling Portugal would severely punish him for his actions. But he was not deterred. His family recounts that he told them: "I must save these people... If I disobey a command, I prefer to be on God's side and against humans, rather than on humans' side and against God."

The punishment did not delay. He was urgently summoned back to Portugal, put on trial behind closed doors, and dismissed from the foreign service. His pension was revoked—and even his law license, to ensure he could not earn a living. Even the careers of his 13 children were blocked. As a result, the Mendes family sank into dire poverty, their historic family home became a ruin, the children of the Mendes couple were scattered worldwide, and de Sousa Mendes himself died in 1954 penniless, leaving his children one legacy: the fight to clear his name.

For many years, Mendes' name was forgotten until a few years ago, when the descendants of Mendes' survivors began fighting to clear his name and preserve his legacy. As part of this, a foundation was established in his memory, managed jointly by Mendes' descendants and the descendants of Jews he saved by defying orders.

Gerald, the grandson I spoke with, is one of the active family members in the foundation for his grandfather's memory. I was mainly interested in how his family viewed the immense sacrifice de Sousa Mendes made, his heroism that sent them to lives of deprivation and humiliation in their homeland, ultimately leading to emigration to other countries.

"No one in the extensive—very large—extended family ever expressed regret for Grandpa's choice," Mendes told me. "My father says that his parents together made the decision to ignore official orders, and they never had even a moment of regret, despite all the suffering they endured. As for the sons and grandchildren—we were always very proud of what he did. We knew he saved many people's lives."

Not Everyone Chose Evil

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, naturally, the focus is on the evil that swept the world: on the six million murdered, on the survivors' suffering. But on this day, I believe it's worth pausing to remember that even if most of Europe stood by quietly— not everyone chose silence. Even if the Righteous Among the Nations were few percentage-wise—their numbers were not insignificant. Even if most diplomats ignored desperate pleas from refugees facing death, there were also pure-hearted diplomats like de Sousa Mendes.

These individuals paid an unbearable price. Mendes' fate still seems good compared to that of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish envoy in Hungary, who saved tens of thousands of Jews with courage and personal risk. At the war's end, Wallenberg was taken to the Russian army headquarters, suspected of spying—and he disappeared. He never returned to his country or his family. Joop Westerweel, a Dutch educator and father of four, dedicated all his energy to smuggling Jewish children from the Netherlands to Spain. He was involved in saving 300 children before the Nazis caught him in the midst of an escape attempt, tortured him for five months, and then executed him. Suzanne Spaak, an activist in the French resistance hiding Jewish children from the Nazis, was arrested by the Gestapo and murdered. These are only three stories of three brave individuals. There were many more.

Raoul Wallenberg

Even those who survived did so with difficulty. Every book about the Righteous Among the Nations documents daily anxieties, constant death threats, temporary or lasting psychological damage to the rescuer's family members, alongside the logistical difficulties that were part and parcel of the rescue mission.

Most Europeans were not official members of the Nazi party and did not persecute Jews with their own hands. They simply sat quietly and remained silent. They chose not to risk themselves, not to complicate their lives, and allowed the Nazis to destroy the Jews with no interference attempts that might cost them dearly. For us, the people who lost six million, it is easy to condemn them. But would we necessarily have acted differently?

Humanity can behave differently. As Rabbi Esther Jungreis, herself a Holocaust survivor, often says: "When they ask me, 'Where was God during the Holocaust?' I have another question—'Where was man during the Holocaust'?"

Joop Westerweel

Humans, as always, were everywhere. The majority chose comfortable silence, cowardly. The few chose like de Sousa Mendes, like Wallenberg, like Westerweel. And they all paid some price for refusing to succumb to evil. Sometimes, they paid with their lives.

"I am very proud of my grandfather and our entire family," Gerald Mendes told me. "They went through very difficult times, but my grandfather is a source of inspiration and courage for all of us. I think of him a lot, especially when I hear about various acts of evil happening in the world, and I try to understand how my grandfather would behave in such situations."

But Aristides de Sousa Mendes should be an inspiration not only to his grandchildren but to all of us. Like him, the other Righteous Among the Nations, whose conscience and courage were stronger than the Nazi terror. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the way to honor their memory is to try to live as they did: with the belief that the right thing must be done—at any cost. The best tribute to their heroism is to always choose, like de Sousa Mendes, to be on God's side.