In the aftermath of WW2, heroic acts of bravery have been
celebrated in the media - who hasn't heard of Irena Sendler, the Polish
nurse who saved over 2500 children from the Holocaust? Who hasn't heard about and read Anne
Frank's Diary and doesn't remember Miep Gies, the Dutch lady who
hid Anne Frank and her family? Or who hasn't seen the movie and inspiring
true story of "Schindler's
List"?
Well, it's about time we celebrated the best of Humankind, this time with a
national hero even if only posthumously.
The (hi)story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, also known as “The
Disobedient Consul”, has already been documented in a movie appropriately called
“Disobedience”, in a book (http://sousamendesfoundation.org/books/),
and now, our school also honours The Righteous Portuguese with an online
publication we can all be proud of.
After last January’s commemoration of the 70 years of liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp, the
class was invited to take part in a flipped activity that included the viewing
of an excerpt of the movie “The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas”, reflected on the
atrocities committed during WWII and one the students, Joana Cruz, was
challenged to research and write a text on Aristides de Sousa Mendes – the Consul
of Bordeaux who, just like other Lifesavers, for so long deserved recognition for his altruistic deed, for a
place in History after having saved over 30,000 people and being severely
punished by António de Oliveira Salazar.
Challenge accepted, the text was finally submitted, is
now published in http://myhero.com/ and can be
viewed and read at the following URL:
