Documentary film and discussion at URI

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Honoring the memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes

The Portuguese section of the URI Department of Modern Classical Languages & Literatures with co-sponsorship from URI Hillel and the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of RI will screen the documentary “…With God against Man” followed by a discussion facilitated by Professor Dan Subotnik of Touro College on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the URI Multicultural Center, 74 Lower College Road, Kingston.

The film honors the memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese consul in France during WWII who disobeyed the orders of his government, granting visas to 30,000 refugees including 12,000 Jews. This heroic feat was characterized by the Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer as “the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.” 

This 2013 film follows a group of visa recipient families, along with members of the Sousa Mendes family, as they embark on a pilgrimage retracing their families’ footsteps of 73 years earlier. Following the film, Subotnik will share the story and answer questions about his own parents and how they were rescued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

This event is part of URI Diversity Week and is free and open to the public. For more information contact Judy de Oliveira at judyd@mail.uri.edu or Amy Olson at amyolson@mail.uri.edu.