“Thousands of people, many of them Parisiens and their families owe their lives to the consul. We are following other cities that have honoured him”. Parisien councillor Hermano Sanches Ruivo has told Lusa news agency that a green space close to the Portuguese consulate in the capital’s 17th arrondissement is to be named after Aristides de Sousa Mendes, as part of a new initiative to ‘recognise’ the role of Portuguese people in the 2nd World War in France. He added that “we know several hundred Portuguese were registered in the Resistance. All these ‘resistants’ are people who participated in the memory of France and our history”.
The Council of Paris approved the homage to Aristides de Sousa Mendes last Friday, just a month since the former consul received Pantheon recognition here in Portugal (click here).
