Miembro de KSI en reconocimiento a Justo de la Humanidad realizado en Los Angeles

Robert Jacobvitz, and active member of KSI presented awards to three former State of California Assemblymen and one former U.S. Congressman at ceremonies for their roles in leading passage of legislation posthumously recognizing Portuguese diplomat Dr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes who issued transit visa to an estimated 30,000 persons fleeing Nazi advancement in France. As a consequence of his effort he forfeited his future to eventually die in poverty and anonymity.   

Former  California Central Valley Congressman Tony Coelho and House Majority Whip and former California Assemblymen Richard Katz, John Klehs and Rusty Areas were presented with mementos of appreciation for their efforts that eventually led to Sousa Mendes being reinstated in the history of his native Portugal as contemporary hero.

In his comments before guests gathered at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH)  on January 23, 2016 and the University of Judaism on January 24, 2016 , Robert  former executive director of the Jewish Community Relations of the Greater East Bay shared the largely unknown Sousa Mendes story whom by disobeying orders by wartime dictator president of  Portugal Antonio Salazar was removed from his consular post in Bordeaux, France to be stripped of his diplomatic credentials  to eventually die in poverty and anonymity in Portugal.

Jacobvitz, who was responsible for organizing the annual Jewish Community’s Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial) program, became aware of the Sousa Mendes story when reading an March 17, 1986 article written in the Oakland Tribune. The article described the efforts of Sousa Mendes son John Paul and wife Joan who were circulating a petition with limited success in front of their church in Dublin, California demanding the Portuguese government reverse the injustices heaped upon Sousa Mendes.

It was then that Jacobvitz understood that Sousa Mendes and his descendants were invisible victims of the Holocaust and that the Jewish community had a responsibility to help them. 

With the concurrence of the JCRC board of directors, Jacobvitz in partnership with the couple organized the International Committee to Commemorated Dr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

Recognitions of the legislators were planned to happen in recognition of the 21 anniversary of International Holocaust day and the opening of "Visas to Freedom: Aristides de Sousa Mendes and the Refugees of World War II"  at the LAMOTH followed by the World Premier of and gala concert; Circular 14:The apotheosis of Aristides at the American Jewish University.