Varian Fry and Aristides Sousa Mendes: rescue in Bordeaux and Marseilles'

In 1940, the Portuguese diplomat Sousa Mendes, then consul in Bordeaux, decides to rebel against decisions of his government, and to give visas to all those who asked him and so begins his action of rescuing them. The number of those who escaped the clutches of the Nazis is estimated at 30,000 people. At the same time, such as Sousa Mendes, a young American journalist Varian Fry is sent to Marseille. His mission: to release artists, intellectuals and political activists, often Jews, threatened by the Gestapo. The modest organization that he sets in motion opposes Article 19 of the Armistice Agreement between France and Germany: "The French government is required to deliver on demand all citizens appointed by the Reich government. "For thirteen months, before the Vichy police expels Varian Fry - with the approval of the United States - the American relief Center, by legal or illegal means, saves many thousands of people. These rescue actions were stemmed from what has been called "the resistance before the Resistance", and from what appears today as an international solidarity movement. We propose to understand two singular historical moments, at the same time we pay tribute to the heroism of the ordinary individual against the State unreasoning.