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For three days and nights, Mendes and his family signed visas nonstop.
It took until the late 1980s for the Portuguese government to officially restore his name.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux during WWII, is the "Portuguese Wallenberg." In June 1940, defying direct orders from his government, he issued thousands of visas to refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied France.
Thousands were trapped in Bordeaux as the German army approached.
He personally traveled to the border at Hendaye to ensure refugees were allowed through.
Mendes chose to follow his conscience over his career, declaring, "I would rather stand with God against Man than with Man against God." The Visa Factory
He was recalled to Lisbon, stripped of his diplomatic rank, and denied his pension. Legacy of Honor