EUROPE IMAGES INTERNATIONAL - M5

Synopsis

In June 1940, as German troops advanced on Paris, the most extensive rescue operation conducted by a single person took place. More than 30,000 people – including 10,000 Jews – escaped the horrors of the Holocaust thanks to one man: Aristide de Sousa Mendes.

As Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, he defied direct orders, working day and night to issue visas to anyone fleeing the Nazi onslaught. Having betrayed the Salazar regime in Portugal, Sousa Mendes was recalled to Lisbon where he ultimately died in poverty and disgrace.

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