Call to honour El Salvador's rescuer of Jews after war role rediscovered

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Call to honour El Salvador's rescuer of Jews after war role rediscovered
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday June 19 2008

He was El Salvador's equivalent of Oskar Schindler, a man who was given a chance to do something about the Holocaust - and took it.

Now, six decades after José Castellanos helped to save 25,000 Jews by granting bogus nationality certificates, the story of the central American nation's consul general to Switzerland during the second world war has been rediscovered.

"The memory of our father is out of the desk, out of the drawers and on the table again," Frieda Garcia, one of the diplomat's daughters, told a news conference at El Salvador's embassy in Washington this week, amid calls for Castellanos to be honoured posthumously by Israel.

Castellanos, an army colonel, served as a diplomat in Liverpool and Hamburg before being posted to Geneva in 1942 where he befriended a Romanian Jew, Gyorgy Mandl.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/19/secondworldwar?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Ian David]

2. He doesn't even seem to have a Wikipedia page (yet)

José Castellanos

No article title matches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Jos%C3%A9+Castellanos&go=Go

[AlphaCentauri]

3. Great story Judi

[Judi Lynn]

4. Just heard of him for the first time today. Found another article on him:

Film revisits El Salvador's role in rescuing World War II Jews
By HADAS GOLD
Wednesday, June 18, 2008



Photo courtesy Write Angle Productions
George Mandel-Mantello, left, and Col. José Castellanos. During WW II, Mantello was a Romanian Jewish refugee living in Switzerland, and Castellanos was the El Salvador consul general in Geneva. The two acquaintances created bogus certificates making thousands of Jews Salvadoran nationals, keeping them them from being deported to concentration camps and almost certain death.


WASHINGTON — During World War II, more than 25,000 European Jews became citizens of El Salvador, a country most had never been to and few ever would.

The country, roughly the size of Israel, would come to fulfill its namesake in Spanish as "the savior" because of bogus certificates created to make thousands of Jews Salvadoran nationals and keep them from being deported to concentration camps and almost certain death.

The signature on nearly all of the certificates was that of George Mandel-Mantello, a Romanian Jewish refugee who in the early 1940s sought help from a Salvadoran acquaintance in Switzerland. The El Salvador consul general in Geneva, Col. José Castellanos, appointed Mantello to the made up position of first secretary, securing him a diplomat's passport. The name Mantello was added to make his name sound more Latin.

The scheme played on the Nazi's love of all things documented and official. Mantello and Castellanos arranged to have blank nationality certificates with Mantello's signature taken to the consulates of various countries in Geneva where they received additional stamps.

More:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/nation/content/shared/news/stories/2008/06/90001024_HOLOCAUST_SALVADOR_2MEN.html

[Judi Lynn]

7. Sorry to say I got the wrong link posted at the bottom of this snippet. Here's the RIGHT ONE:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/nation/content/shared/news/stories/2008/06/HOLOCAUST_ELSALVADOR.html

Very embarrassing to discover this too late to correct in the original post.

The story is very worthwhile.

[pnorman]

5. Here's another Hero to Humanity: Chiune Sugihara

Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara

In the course of human existence, many people are tested. Only a few soar as eagles and achieve greatness by simple acts of kindness, thoughtfulness and humanity. This is the story of a man and his wife who, when confronted with evil, obeyed the kindness of their hearts and conscience in defiance of the orders of an indifferent government. These people were Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara who, at the beginning of World War II, by an ultimate act of altruism and self-sacrifice, risked their careers, their livelihood and their future to save the lives of more than 6,000 Jews. This selfless act resulted in the second largest number of Jews rescued from the Nazis.
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After repeatedly receiving negative responses from Tokyo, the Consul discussed the situation with his wife and children. Sugihara had a difficult decision to make. He was a man who was brought up in the strict and traditional discipline of the Japanese. He was a career diplomat, who suddenly had to make a very difficult choice. On one had, he was bound by the traditional obedience he had been taught all his life. On the other hand, he was a samurai who had been told to help those who were in need. He knew that if he defied the orders of his superiors, he might be fired and disgraced, and would probably never work for the Japanese government again. This would result in extreme financial hardship for his family in the future.

Chiune and his wife Yukiko even feared for their lives and the lives of their children, but in the end, could only follow their consciences. The visas would be signed.
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http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sugihara.html

pnorman

[peacetalksforall]

6. Solly Mack and pnorman - thank you, thank you. So beautiful. This is what

humanity is really about. I am so glad I read this post. I don't have much time these days. I must have been meant to read here today. Again, thank you.

[roguevalley]

8. in the midst of desolation, a flower. God bless and keep these good

people close.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. K &R