Society

The Brazilian known as the “Angel of Hamburg”

Working as a diplomatic clerk in Nazi Germany, Aracy de Carvalho bent the rules to grant Brazilian visas to Jewish people seeking to flee persecution and death

aracy carvalho jewish
Aracy de Carvalho. Photo: Personal archive

Largely unknown in her home country, Brazilian diplomatic clerk Aracy Moebius de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa is revered by Jewish people the world over. While working at the Brazilian consulate in Hamburg, she saved the life of several Jews during the Kristallnacht pogrom, helping them obtain Brazilian visas and flee Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

For her determined and daring actions, Aracy de Carvalho was honored with the Righteous Among the Nations award by the Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance center in Israel, given to gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need. Known as the “Angel of Hamburg,” she is also celebrated at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

And now, for the first time, her inspiring struggle will be portrayed in cinema, with the launch of a new television miniseries “Passport to Freedom,” aired on December 20. Developed by Brazilian TV giant Globo in partnership with Sony Pictures, it will be the first Globo production to be shot entirely in English.

“Passport to Freedom” includes acting talent from around the world, as well as having segments filmed in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

After fleeing prejudice, she found Nazism

Aracy de Carvalho’s struggle to aid Jewish people...

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