News

---

I’ve been writing a book about Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a diplomat who defied his government to issue thousands of life-saving visas to refugees fleeing Europe during World War II. I was honored to be included among the VIP invitees for the two-day opening ceremonies of the museum in Cabanas de Viriato, Portugal, on July 18 and 19.

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, cut the ribbon on the museum, located about an hour north of Coimbra. The museum’s mansion-like building was once the home of Sousa Mendes and his very large family. It’s known as Casa do Passal. Read more about it on my blog page. (Click "blog" link above.)

What do Huey Lewis’s mother and Salvador Dalí have in common? What links them to Hans and Margaret Rey (authors of Curious George), the imperial Habsburg family of Austria, the founder of Elle magazine, actor Robert Montgomery (father of Bewitched’s Elizabeth Montgomery), and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg?  

All of them and about 4,000 other people were able to escape war-torn Europe because of one man: Aristides de Sousa Mendes. He was the Portuguese consul-general in Bordeaux, France, in 1940. 

Hundreds of thousands of desperate people fled Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg when German troops invaded those countries in May 1940. Their ultimate goal was Portugal, where they hoped to catch a ship or plane out of Europe. But they first had to travel to southern France and obtain a visa from the consul. 

Bordeaux was jammed with refugees—in cars, trucks, and farm wagons, and on bicycles and on foot. Accommodations and food were hard to find, and so much was at stake. For many, it was literally a life-or-death situation.

Portugal’s dictator, António Salazar, had expressly forbidden his consuls from issuing most visas, including visas to Jews trying to stay ahead of Hitler’s troops. 

Sousa Mendes, a career diplomat with a dozen children and much to lose, issued them anyway. He opened a path to freedom for Jews, gay men, writers and artists, and those who had opposed the Nazi regime.

Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer has called Sousa Mendes’s humanitarian endeavors “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust,” yet the late diplomat is virtually unknown in the United States. The sole English-language book about him was published 23 years ago and is the translation of a French volume.

My next book will tell the story of Sousa Mendes and the people he saved. Since I'm living in Portugal, I am able to research his life and career using primary sources. 

This is an exciting and powerful story, a particularly important story in a time of growing anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

Liberty Brought Us Here is now available for sale in the gift shop of Henry Clay’s estate, Ashland, in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Henry Clay was a US senator, congressman, speaker of the House of Representatives, secretary of state, and presidential candidate. He was also a life member of the American Colonization Society and the organization’s president for several years. 

Colonization, the relocation of freeborn and formerly enslaved Black people to Liberia, is a central part of my book. Clay was well-known as a supporter of colonization, and the town of Clay-Ashland in Liberia was named in his honor. 

Shortly after Liberty Brought Us Here was published, it rose to No. 1 on Amazon's catalog of books on the history of West Africa. The book, which has garnered numerous five-star reviews, is available on Amazon in print, e-book, and audio formats.