Gilberto Bosques Saldívar
Gilberto Bosques Saldívar | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Chiautla de Tapia, Puebla, Mexico | 20 July 1892
Died | 4 July 1995 Mexico City, Mexico | (aged 102)
Nationality | Mexican |
Spouse | María Luisa Manjarrez |
Children | Laura María, María Teresa and Gilberto Froylán |
Occupation | Diplomat, politician, journalist |
Gilberto Bosques Saldívar (20 July 1892 – 4 July 1995) was a
Early years, family and education
Gilberto Bosques Saldívar was born in Chiautla, a mountain village in southern portion of the state of Puebla, southeast of Mexico City.
At age 17, he took up arms in the
Career
Journalism and politics
Bosques organized the First National Pedagogy Congress (Primer Congreso Nacional Pedagógico), and he worked as a journalist with several newspapers and publications.[2]
He subsequently served as a state legislator in Puebla and as a
Mexican Consul in France
Bosques was stationed in France from 1939–43, coinciding with most of
Bosques' courageous initiatives and actions mirror those of two other consuls placed in similar situations in war-torn Europe, such as the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux, France, and the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara in Kaunas, Lithuania.
In 1943, Bosques, his family (wife and three children), and 40 consular staff members were arrested by the Gestapo and detained in a "hotel-prison"[6] in Germany for a year. He was released under an agreement between the German and Mexican governments after Manuel Ávila Camacho (then President of Mexico from 1940–46) made an exchange of prisoners with imprisoned German citizens.[7][6]
Post-World War II
Bosques and his family returned to Mexico in 1944.[6]
In the decades after his release from German captivity, he served as Ambassador of Mexico in several countries:
Personal life and death
Bosques was married and had three children: Laura,[8] María Teresa and Gilberto Froylán. In his retirement in Mexico, he translated and wrote poetry.[6]
Bosques Saldívar died just days short of his 103rd birthday.
Legacy and recognition
Bosques's feat in saving nearly 40,000 people from execution by the Third Reich or Francoist Spain went unrecognized even among specialists in the history of rescuers of Jews until after 2000, and especially the year 2008. At a ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, on 13 November 2008, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) posthumously awarded him the Courage to Care Award, created in 1987 to honor rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust Era.[9][10] But this was not the first major posthumous recognition given to him. He was memorialized in Vienna on 4 June 2003 by having a street in the 22nd district named after him: the Gilberto-Bosques-Promenade.[11]
In 2007, Embajador Gilberto Bosques: un hombre de todos los tiempos (Ambassador Gilberto Bosques: a man for all times), a photographic exhibition in his honor, was mounted at the Jewish and Holocaust History Museum[8] in the Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City.[12] In 2008, this exhibition traveled to Xalapa, Veracruz.[13]
On 20 July 2017, Google celebrated his 125th birthday with a Google Doodle.[14][6]
Lillian Lieberman's 2010 documentary Visa to Paradise (Visa al paraíso) is based on Bosques' life.
See also
- Mexican Jews
Notes
- ^ Regarding the spelling of his second surname: Under Hispanic cultural tradition, a person's second surname, when they use one, is that of their mother. Etymologically, the surname Saldívar is Zaldívar. In Hispanic America, it occasionally happens that the 'z' in the spelling of a surname is replaced with 's'.
References
- ^ "Gilberto Bosques". TurismoPuebla.com.
- ^ Garay, Graciela de (2006). Gilberto Bosques: El oficio del gran negociador. México Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. p. 26.
- ^ González Marín, Silva (2006). Prensa y poder político: la elección presidencial de 1940 y la prensa mexicana. Siglo XXI. p. 127.
- ^ Enciclopedia Política de México 9 Tomo V. (PDF). Senade de la República - Instituto Belisario Domínguez. 2010.
- ^ a b Grabman, Richard (2007). Bosques' War: How a Mexican diplomat saved 40,000 from the Nazis (and maybe prevented World War III). Mazatlán, Sinaloa: Editorial Mazatlán.
- ^ a b c d e f Leon, Alejandro (1 August 2003). "Gilberto Bosques, el 'Schindler' mexicano". Contenido (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Gilberto Bosques Biography". raoulwallenberg.net. International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
- ^ a b "Gilberto Bosques, the 'Mexican Schindler' honored". mexfiles.net. 8 July 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
- ^ "ADL Honors 'The Mexican Schindler' For Heroic Rescue Of Jews During The Holocaust". Anti-Defamation League. 13 November 2008. Archived from the original on 27 November 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
- ^ "Gilberto Bosques Saldívar, the 'Mexican Schindler,' is honored by the Anti-Defamation League". Los Angeles Times. 1 December 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
- ^ "Boulevard dedicated to the Mexican savior is inaugurated in Vienna". International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
- ^ Jiménez, Arturo (8 July 2007). "Rinden homenaje al diplomático Gilberto Bosques en el Museo del Holocausto". La Jornada (in Spanish) – via jornada.unam.mx.
- ^ "Homenajean con fotografías a Gilberto Bosques Saldívar". Diario de Xalapa. 21 August 2008. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2008 – via oem.com.mx.
- ^ "Gilberto Bosques Saldívar's 125th Birthday". Google.com. 20 July 2017.
Bibliography
- "Human Rights Commission of Mexico City will propose naming a street in honor of Bosques". cdhdf.org.mx (Press release). Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal. 24 June 2007.
External links
- Memorial site Archived 2016-10-02 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- Testimonials from people saved by Bosques, collected by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation