Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion inaugurated a city square named in honor of Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who issued visas to approximately 10,000 Jews during The Holocaust and was named a “Righteous among the nations” by the State of Israel in 1966.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who was Consul General of Portugal in Bordeaux, France during World War II. Mendes issued roughly 30,000 visas and passports to refugees who fled Nazi Germany – including 10,000 issued to Jews fleeing their certain death in Europe.
“It is a great honor for the capital city of the Jewish people to inaugurate the square today in the name of Mendes, a Righteous Among the Nations, who risked his life and saved many Jews from the terror of the Nazis during World War II,” Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said in the inauguration ceremony.
“Today, the greatness and heroism of Mendes will be proudly commemorated for many generations.”
The square, located on the corner of Zangwill and Torah V’Avoda Streets in the Kiryat HaYovel neighborhood, was inaugurated in the presence of the Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, Ambassador of Portugal to Israel Jorge Cabral, Director Righteous Among the Nations Department in Yad Vashem Dr. Yoel Zysnoin, members of Aristides de Sousa Mendes’ family, and former Israeli Ambassador to Portugal Ms. Colette Avital.