ARISTIDES DE SOUSA MENDES AND LUIS MARTINS DE SOUZA DANTAS SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES

NEWARK, N.J., March 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, April 3, 2011, two celebrations honoring WWII heroes, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, credited with saving an estimated 30,000 lives, and Luis Martins de Souza Dantas, credited with saving an estimated 800 lives, will be held in Newark, NJ.  The first event is a special 11:30 a.m. Mass by the Brazilian Bishop H.E.D. Edgar Moreira da Cunha at Our Lady of Fatima Church, 82 Congress Street.  The second event will be a film screening on Aristides de Sousa Mendes to be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Sport Club Portuguese (SCP), 55 Prospect Street, Newark (free admission). 

Both of these heroes happened to be serving their countries (Portugal and Brazil respectively) in France during WWII and found themselves motivated by their faith to actively participate in acts of rescue.  Both issued visas against their governments' wishes, to Jewish and other "undesirable" refugees.  Both were recalled by their respective governments, subjected to disciplinary action and died within days of each other, Sousa Mendes on April 3rd and Souza Dantas on April 14th, in obscurity.

These events are co-sponsored by the Sousa Mendes Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, in cooperation with The Sport Club Portuguese (SCP) and the Serranos Club, and have been organized on behalf of these organizations by Joao Crisostomo.  

For more information please visit www.sousamendesfoundation.org, or contact Olivia Mattis at (206) 426-5951, or at olivia@sousamendesfoundation.org.

SOURCE Sousa Mendes Foundation

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http://www.sousamendesfoundation.org