The Portuguese Government paid late tribute to a diplomat who saved thousands of Jews. Aristides Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul General in Bordeau, issued transit visas to over 10,000 Jews and 20,000 other refugees against the wishes of the Portuguese government in 1940.

Sousa Mendes was recalled and stripped of his position and pension. He also was forbidden from practicing law. Sousa Mendes stated, “I would rather be with God against man than with man against God.”