SHAME - (2)

I like to listen radio when I drive.

Days ago I listened to some flash-interviews made in the streets of Lisbon. I was shocked with what I heard.

The whole of the young people, who were asked if they knew who Aristides de Sousa Mendes was, answered saying they didn't; they didn't had the faintest idea of this man was and what he had made.

It's astounding that a man who saved the lives of thousands of human beings during WWII ( when he was a consul in Bordeaux, he disobeyed ditactor Salazar orders, issuing 30.000 visas, with wich the lives of jews and other persecuted minorities were saved from the nazi's death camps) is unknown to the present generation.

On the other hand, it's not surprising when you realise that in our schools, History text books only deal with the Holocaust in a few lines and a fewer photos. So, the same fate fell on Aristides de Sousa Mendes, forgotten in the classrooms and in the memories of young portuguese.

It hurts to know that, more than 30 years elapsed from the overthrown of the fascist regime, the deeds of this great man (In 1966 Sousa Mendes was honored at Israel's Yad Vashem memorial to the Holocaust as one of the "Righteous Among The Nations," and that in 1987, the Portuguese Republic began to rehabilitate Sousa Mendes' memory and granted a posthumous Order of Liberty medal, one of that country's highest honors, although the consul's diplomatic honors still were not restored. On March 18, 1988 the Portuguese parliament officially dismissed all charges, restoring him to the diplomatic corps by unanimous vote and honoring him with a standing ovation. He was promoted to the rank of Ambassador. He also was issued the Cross of Merit for his actions in Bordeaux) are still a mistery to the younger generations.

Really this is a SHAME