Memorial to the Refugees and Consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes - Vilar Formoso

A tribute to the refugees of Second World War.

The Memorial, which opened in 2017, occupies two former warehouses attached to the train station of Vilar Formoso. It keeps the memory of the recent past of closed borders alive, where an entry visa in Portugal corresponded to a life saved, and many of these visas were granted by the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes (1885-1954), responsible for issuing about 30,000 visas, 10,000 to Jews. This is the reason why Yad Vashem remembers him as the “Righteous Among the Nations” (1966). His achievement was also recognised by the historian Yehuda Bauer as the "largest rescue action carried out by a single person during the Holocaust".

Vilar Formoso, a traditional and important border town of Portugal, was the gateway in a neutral country in Second World War, played a key role in the escape of refugees to the horrors of the Holocaust. There are numerous testimonies that describe this village as a friendly place, where the migrants were welcomed with huge pots of soup, bread and accommodation.

The two warehouses of the railway station are turned into museums nowadays. The two buildings are now linked by a dark structure that contrasts with the white of the exterior walls of both buildings and was designed as the fragment of a swastika.

There are six exhibition centres: “People like us”, “The beginning of the nightmare"", “The Journey”, “Vilar Formoso - Boarder of Peace”, “In Portuguese Lands” and “The departure”. The first warehouse transformed into a long corridor, which becomes narrow, and you can see images of Jewish families strolling or playing on the streets and in parks. Throughout the visit, you can see videos, photos, texts and posters that bear witness to the changes in Germany and Europe since Hitler came to power in 1933 until 1940, when the German army had already invaded a significant part of the continent and Portugal received a large number of refugees. This is the warehouse of the tortuous and narrow paths of the memorial.

The second warehouse is the only one in the entire Museum that existed during Second World War, and in contrast to the first, everything is clear and round shaped as if welcoming to the traveller. The light blue walls recreate the blue sky remembered with emotion by those who made it to Vilar Formoso.

The Memorial aims to perpetuate the memory of the recent past and unfortunately, very current, with Aristides de Sousa Mendes as the protagonist, the man who issued thousands of visas allowing many who fled the Nazis to escape to freedom.