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Beverly Hills, CA - The 'Mexican Schindler' Honored for Saving 40,000 Jews During WWII |
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But the former Mexican diplomat, stationed in France during World War II, helped save as many as 40,000 Jews and other refugees from Nazi persecution.
"It is still a chapter of the Holocaust that has not been written," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). "I believe that there are a lot of other cases that we do not know about that are surfacing little by little."
At a reception held in Saldivar's honor in Beverly Hills, the ADL presented his daughter with a posthumous Courage to Care Award, which was created in 1987 to recognize non-Jews who helped rescue and hide refugees.
Foxman noted that, other than industrialist Oskar Schindler and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, most non-Jews who defied the Nazis and helped Jews during the Holocaust are not well-known.
Calling Saldivar the "Mexican Schindler," Foxman said, "Bosques' life is a shining example of human decency, moral courage and conviction, and his actions highlight the less well-known initiatives of Latin Americans who helped to save Jews during the Holocaust."
"I stand here before you because of someone like Gilberto Bosques Saldivar," Foxman said. As a young boy in Poland during the war, Foxman was sheltered by a Catholic woman in an "overwhelmingly unfriendly" Europe.
He described Saldivar's efforts when he served as Mexican consul general in Marseilles, France, in 1939. In two years he issued about 40,000 visas and chartered ships to take Jews and other refugees to various African nations, where they then went on to Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. Saldivar was arrested, along with his family and about 40 consular staff members, by the Germans in 1943 and was held for about a year near Bonn, Germany, until Mexico reached an agreement with the Nazis for his release.
Saldivar later served as an ambassador to Cuba, Finland, Portugal and Sweden.
He died in 1995 at age 103.
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Read Comments (10) — Post Yours »
1
Dec 04, 2008 at 04:52 PM Yitzchak Says:
Obviously he is one of the CHASIDEI UMOS HAOLAM. Surely that is why HaShem granted him such a long life.
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Dec 04, 2008 at 04:56 PM Avrohom Abba Says:
It is amazing that Gilberto Bosques Saldivar did so much for us and yet, in spite of all the technological advances, today is the first I hear of his magnificent deeds. Boruch Hashem that this malach was sent to help us and accomplished his mission! I'm very glad he lived to be 103 years old. May his family continue on his wonderful path of helping others. Thank you Vosizneias for breinging this to our attention!
3
Dec 04, 2008 at 04:55 PM yitzchok Says:
He was blessed with long life! Better the any award.
4
Dec 04, 2008 at 04:55 PM ubet Says:
NICE!
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Dec 04, 2008 at 06:11 PM seer Says:
its amazing to me that such heroes existed.they were 'musser nefesh' their families and all what they had to save jewish lives. i wonder if any books exist describing his efforts. obviously the germans,'yemach shmon v'zichrom' took notice of his activies and held him in berlin until the mexican gov't intervened and got him out. yehi zichro boruch.
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Dec 04, 2008 at 08:51 PM 5cents Says:
Where where the 40000 till now? What's with the miduh of hakuras hatoiv?
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Dec 04, 2008 at 10:33 PM Anonymous Says:
Its amazing what he did we could all learn from it
8
Dec 04, 2008 at 10:18 PM Anonymous Says:
wow. glad vin brought this out. makes me think that maybe there is still hope for mankind...
9
Dec 04, 2008 at 11:20 PM Harry Maryles Says:
By sheer co-incidence I published a post about another righteous gentile today, LBJ. It seems that there were a lot more of them than we previously thought.
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Dec 06, 2008 at 08:40 PM bigwheeel Says:
“ By sheer co-incidence I published a post about another righteous gentile today, LBJ. It seems that there were a lot more of them than we previously thought. ”
What about LBJ! I don't think he was [politically] active during WWII!!!