In 2007, the good-natured Portuguese media launched a national selection to select the "Greatest Portuguese". What no one expected was that the famous Portuguese Prime Minister Salazar and the leader of the Portuguese Communist Party Alvaro Cuni

Yair was far ahead in the voting, occupying the first and second places respectively, but the third place went to a man who died in poverty, paralyzed by a stroke.

Arbitrary?, "lawbreaker", "disobedient", "speaking without scruples". At the age of 25, Mendez, all of the above were labels for this man. During the decades of being wronged, he once hoped that

The Portuguese government gave him fair treatment, but it was not until 32 years after his death that he was finally vindicated.

And his heroic deeds of "illegal" rescuing 30,000 refugees were finally recognized positively by the Portuguese government. He is Aristide, who was called "Portugal's greatest hero of the 20th century" by former Portuguese President Mario Suarez.

? De? Sousa? Mendes (Aristides de Sousa Mendes).

1. "Prickly Youth" Mendez and his first six children in 1917. In August 1919, the 34-year-old Mendez went to Brazil to serve as the consul. Mendez was born in a lower-middle-class aristocratic family.

He received a good education and was a devout Catholic.

However, at thirty years old, he looks very "childish". Although he is the father of several children and has been married for nine years, he has no scruples in his words and often expresses his views on politics outspokenly.

, so he often offended people, and was even suspected by the Brazilian government of being a spy who came to undermine the local regime, and was suspended for inspection.

Mendes and his family Mendes tasted poverty for the first time. He could only rely on loans to maintain his life, but his character led to this not being the last time he "enjoyed poverty."

Mendes later moved to Portugal, and was assigned from Portugal to San Francisco in the United States, where he once again showed his "prickly" character. The 38-year-old even asked these eligible visa applicants to donate to Portuguese charities.

Institutional donations.

By now, it would probably be trending on Weibo and be accused of moral kidnapping.

The impact of this was also bad at the time. When Portuguese Americans heard that they had to donate money to apply for a visa back home?

Taking to the streets to demonstrate directly caused embarrassment to the Portuguese government, and Mendes once again lost his job.

2. The Sosa Mendez Family: In 1926, the 41-year-old Mendez began to change from hard to soft. At this time, he finally realized the cruelty of reality and the hardship of life. During the Portuguese military coup,

He began to support the new regime. After the Portuguese regime became fascist, he still expressed support and was therefore reused.

After that, his official position skyrocketed. He was first sent to Spain, which was in chaos, to support the opposition. Later, because of his outstanding work, he was sent to the prosperous Antwerp two years later to serve as the head of the consular corps.

The proud Mendes seemed to have reached the pinnacle of his life at this time.

They have their house in the prosperous city of Antwerp, and their eldest son and daughter are also studying at university in this city and have achieved excellent results. Every night he sings and dances with his 14 children, and he finally gave birth to his wife in middle age.

He gave his wife, who has always supported her, a better life.

If time were frozen here, this "ordinary" family would live happily for the rest of their lives. However, the reality is not so beautiful.

Mendez’s three children in 1935. In 1934, Mendez’s second son graduated from Manuel University as a graduate student. At the age of 49, he was so happy that he held a family dinner. Unexpectedly, during this dinner,

Mendes' second son suddenly fell to the ground and died, and the autopsy reported a ruptured blood vessel.

A few months later, Mendes lost his fourteenth child, his youngest.

In 1938, when Mendes saw that his son Jose had not recovered from the death of his brother, he asked to go to the Far East to escape this sad place.

However, Portuguese Prime Minister Salazar turned a deaf ear. After Mendez appealed twice, he still arranged for him to be consul general in Bordeaux, a city in southern France, responsible for the overall affairs of southwestern France. This is a very important position.

3. Ten years of drinking ice can’t cool your hot blood? The period during which Prime Minister Salazar and Mendez lived was actually the most chaotic period in Portugal’s modern history. Since 1910, Portugal has held eight presidential elections, and there are

45 cabinets have taken turns in power, and the longest president only served for more than a year.

Portugal's economy collapsed, the cost of living soared 25 times in more than ten years, and the gap between rich and poor continued to widen.

After the military coup in 1926, the country was still struggling to survive due to the impact of the economic crisis and was close to collapse.

In 1932, Prime Minister Salazar took office in response to a fiscal crisis.

And this person is the person mentioned above who won the title of "The Greatest Portuguese" in the Portuguese national selection.