Ambassador Gilberto Bosques

Biography of Ambassador Gilberto Bosques

Prepared by Eric Saul
Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust
Copyright Eric Saul. All rights reserved.


Gilberto Bosques Saldívar was born on July 20, 1892 in Villa de Chiautla de Tapia, in the State of Puebla.

Young Bosques witnessed the murder of innocent civilians in his hometown.  This experience moved him to live a life based on morality and justice.

He studied in the public school and, while a student, he became a member of the 1910 Revolutionary Movement under the leadership of Aquiles Serdán Alatriste.

Bosques organized and shared the leadership of the group Body of Volunteers of San Carlos, Veracruz.  This group opposed the United States’ invasion of the port of Veracruz in 1914.

Bosques took part in the Constitutional Congress of the State of Puebla, Mexico.  He contributed to the constitution for the State of Puebla.  While serving in the state legislature, he worked to promote workers’ rights.  Between 1922-1923 and 1934-1937, he represented Puebla as a Federal Deputy.

In his early years, Bosques was a pioneer in Mexican educational and political reform.  He even rose to the head of the Information Department of his political party.  There he became part of the inner circle of political leaders, which included General Lázaro Cárdenas.  Together, they wanted to create an ideal state with social, political and economic equality for all.

Bosques founded the Left Wing of the National Revolutionary Party.  In 1938, he was editor of the newspaper El Nacional.

Just before the outbreak of World War II, Bosques left his career in education, journalism and politics to devote himself to the Mexican Foreign Ministry and diplomatic corps.

Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas (in office 1934-1940) appointed Bosques Minister in France in 1939.  Bosques’ assignment was to study the French and European educational systems and to report on the wartime conditions in France and Europe.  Being a personal friend of President Cárdenas, Bosques would send reports on the war and make recommendations about Mexico’s policy regarding its neutrality or participation in the war.  At the time, Mexico maintained neutrality.

On June 10, 1940, the German Army invaded France.  Within three weeks, the French army had collapsed and surrendered.  The French government signed an armistice treaty.  According to the terms of the armistice, the German occupying government divided France into two zones.  The German army occupied the north.  The south was established as a free zone that had its government headquarters in Vichy, France.  Marshal Philippe Pétain was appointed President, and Pierre Laval Prime Minister.  Pétain and Laval maintained a collaborationist government with Germany until the liberation of France in August 1944.

In June 1940, all foreign embassies and legations in Paris were moved to the south of France.  Minister Bosques was placed in charge of the Mexican legation in Marseilles.  Bosques served under Mexican Ambassador Luis I. Rodriquez, who maintained an office in Vichy until the end of 1940.  Bosques was then made head of the Mexican mission in France, with the title of Minister at Large.  Bosques had the duties and responsibilities of a minister (ambassador).  He served at this post until the closing of the legation and his arrest by the German and French authorities in November 1942.

During his term as Minister, Bosques witnessed the arrest and internment of thousands of Jews, Spanish Republican soldiers and others in the French concentration camps.  He had personally observed the roundup and deportation of Jews in southern France.  He was sympathetic to the plight of the persecuted Jews, and sent reports to the foreign ministry about the deplorable conditions inside the camps.  These conditions were so bad that nearly ten percent of the internees died annually. 

On his own initiative, Bosques used his diplomatic office to issue thousands of visas to Jewish refugees in southern France, many of whom were from Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Luxembourg and other German-occupied territories.  These visas were used to free refugees from both French and German concentration camps.  The visas allowed refugees safely to leave Southern France to Spain and Portugal.

In his oral history autobiography, Bosques recounts:

“In this humanitarian crisis, assistance and help for the persecuted Jews took on a dimension of an obligation to the human character.  Mexico had not taken a firm position on the matter.  However, the drama was taking place and we had to help these people.  Our assistance took on the form of hiding certain people and documenting others, giving them opportunities to leave France, which was very difficult.  Many people left with Mexican documentation.  Some of these relied upon the prior admission on the part of the government, while others were documented, protected and assisted in leaving France for safety.  Certain cases had numerous stumbling blocks, difficulties and barriers to overcome.  Not withstanding this fact, the maximum possible assistance was provided to these people.” [Bosques oral history]

In 1940, Consul General Bosques encouraged President Cardenas and his successor, Avila Camacho, as well as officials at the foreign ministry, to allow Jews to immigrate to Mexico.  Bosques felt that the immigration of Jews to Mexico would greatly benefit the Mexican economy.  Originally, the plan was to settle Jewish refugees as farmers.  However, Bosques recommended that these refugees were better suited to the business and industrial enterprises in Mexico.

“Before leaving for France, I became aware of a plan to establish in the country certain agricultural colonies with Jewish immigrants.  I informed General [President] Cardenas that these colonies could not be founded because normally the Jews are involved with business that does not root them to the land.  Being limited to a foreign land in this manner is outside of the Jewish mentality.  Normally, the Jews are involved with industrial and commercial matters, in which cases they can simply relocate their business and return to their countries of origin.  Undoubtedly, the goal is to return to their home lands once the war is over, which would be the most profound Jewish aspiration.”

I proposed to the general that he make a plan on a map of our natural resources, production areas of prime materials, methods of communication -- that is to say, all of the issues related to where we could establish industrial development.  In these times, Europe was a Jewish refugee camp.   We could make good use of the circumstances to create industrial development, in accordance with our natural resources.  President Cardenas told me that he would give orders to the secretaries of Government and Foreign Relations so that I would have sufficient powers in order to select engineers in Europe and men capable of coming and offering an important collaboration in our economic development.   Thereafter, I was left with the task of planning a massive migration of Jewish families.” [Bosques oral history]

Bosques helped save a number of Jewish diamond merchants who were refugees in southern France.  Bosques was successful in convincing Cardenas and the Mexican foreign ministry to allow him to issue visas and arrange for the transportation of these refugees.

“My initiative to President Cardenas to bring over engineers came about as well.  We formed a group of diamond cutters from Amberes who asked to come to Mexico, thinking that they would work for the best market for diamonds, the United States.   They would bring their financial resources here, their banking administration, men prepared for great accomplishments, all of the mechanisms of commercialization.  Here, they would find work in diamonds and they would employ a workforce of ten thousand workers.  They formed this industrial plan, thinking that it would be advantageous for the country in these circumstances, an industry that would be an undoubtedly important development.  Also, it would save these people who were predominantly Jewish.”

The government of Mexico accepted, seeing the positive effect that this initiative would have and authorized me to document everyone, including the Jews that appeared in the lists in their respective classifications.  This is how it was done, but when I brought ten documented people to the diamond industry, I was told to suspend their visas and to take back their documents.  I informed the secretary that I would not do it.” [Bosques oral history]

In 1940, Bosques and the Mexican ambassador to France, Luis I. Rodriquez, personally intervened on behalf of refugees with French Prime Minister Pierre Laval.  They convinced Laval to permit thousands of Jews and Spanish refugees to leave France.  This despite the objections of the Nazi occupying forces in France.  Bosques recalled:

“For the task of protection, it was necessary to conduct a very important negotiation with the French authorities.”

It dealt with the issue of resolving the legal status that the Spanish refugees were going to have in France, on the way to Mexico.  The minister in France, Luis I. Rodriguez, directed to the French government a note that indicated that there needed to be a formal arrangement on this issue.  This note was sent in accordance with the direct instructions of President Lázaro Cardenas.  It contemplated the shelter and the sending of the Spanish to Mexico.”

This note led to an accord, whereby the French government accepted the process of documenting these individuals' departure to Mexico.  This accord opened the possibility that a large number of refugees could leave and that they could be cared for and helped within the French territory.  Later, the accord was extended to cover members of the international brigades, which had fought for the Republic in Spanish territory.  These brigades left from Spain but, with the French government's approval, the accord was extended to assist Spanish refugees, as they were in the same field of battle and the same position as the other refugees.” [Bosques oral history]

Even though Bosques had negotiated with Vichy officials to be able to help refugees, he still had to bend or break the laws to continue his work.  There were even members of the Mexican foreign ministry who did not fully support his actions.  He describes his actions in an understated way in his oral history:

“Diplomacy in France was very interesting, because in these circumstances, when people and events were completely subverted, the law did not work.  Classic international law did not work nor diplomacy, for normal administration or management.  Everything was altered.  Therefore, we had to revert to universally accepted principles.  These principles had been used historically in this nation to create, for example, laws concerning asylum in the shelters.”

Under these circumstances, confronted with a firm position on the part of France, we had to use certain persuasive resources with the civil servants and to go all over to get the desired results.  With these negotiations we achieved important arrangement, such as those with respect to the shelters on the part of the French authorities.”

…For all of these things, for the establishment of the shelters themselves, in circumstances that were not exactly favorable, we had to use methods that they had not used before in similar cases.  For the task of protection, it was necessary to conduct a very important negotiation with the French authorities.” [Bosques oral history]

After convincing Vichy authorities to allow the Spanish soldiers to leave, Bosques issued thousands of visas to Spanish Republican soldiers and citizens who were trapped in southern France.  (More than 8,000 Jewish volunteers fought with the Spanish Republican Army against Franco.  They comprised nearly 20% of the anti-fascist forces.)

Some of the visas Bosques issued were to European political leaders who had fled to southern France.

“We also took care of many important men in the political, intellectual and scientific fields who were fighting for the Spanish republic and later sought refuge in France.  We gave everyone the protection that was necessary.” [Bosques oral history]

Many of the refugees whom Bosques helped became important members of the anti-Nazi resistance and liberation movements in Europe.

“One afternoon, we gave documents along with the minister Rodriguez to fifty Italians who were leaving to serve the liberation in their home country.  We documented certain individuals who later became prominent figures in the war of Yugoslavia, except for Tito who did not come through France.  In some cases, we took advantage of the English intelligence channels and those of the patriots of the resistance.  Certain Austrians and Germans preferred to stay and they did not accept the offer to come to Mexico.  They took part in the war of the French liberation.  The same happened with the refugees of other countries.  ‘We are going to stay,’ they said, ‘our duty is to the fight here, the fight to the death, we are going to stay and fight and die in our countries to liberate ourselves from German domination.’” [Bosques oral history]

It is estimated that Bosques issued as many as 40,000 visas to refugees.  Not all refugees, however, went to Mexico.  Many of the refugees used the visa as a means of escape from southern France to Lisbon, Milan or Trieste, where they could make arrangements for transportation to leave Europe.  Bosques understood that a visa, for many of the Jews and other refugees, was a means of escape from France, and not necessarily to go to Mexico.

“Mexico increased its protective assistance to all of the anti-Nazi and antifascist refugees in France, such that they received documentation and assistance in leaving France.  They had to be assisted to escape from France and to organize the groundwork for the wars of liberation in Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia.  We documented these individuals in order that they would have visas to serve as protection against the French police.  They could say, ‘I am going to Mexico,’ and nobody would bother them anymore, since they would no longer be a problem for the police.  This was how their exit was facilitated, and the liberation of their respective countries.  For example, very important people were sent to Italy, like Luigi Longo of the Communist Party, and many others.”

“…Certain groups of Spaniards traveled to Cuba and others to Santo Domingo, due to many circumstances.  Some Spaniards of high intellectual ranking went to Buenos Aires, where they received professorships and they gave conferences.  For this reason, they decided to stay there, feeling confident in the reception by fellow professors and in a country with which they were already familiar.  Others traveled to Santo Domingo, looking for work.”

Many others went to Cuba.  The bulk of the refugees came to Mexico.  Even the republican government was established in Mexico.  Additionally, others came too, including the intellectuals, the workers, the poets and the artists.  It was a complete representation of the people of a country.” [Bosques oral history]

Consul General Bosques arranged for transportation of Spanish Republican soldiers and Jewish refugees from Vichy to Lisbon.  From Lisbon, Bosques and his staff arranged for the charter of several ships to bring the refugees to Mexico and other ports.

Approximately 25,000-30,000 Spanish Republican soldiers came to Mexico City and about 1,800 Jews entered Mexico with Bosques visas.

Varian Fry, of the Emergency Rescue Committee, acknowledged Mexico’s efforts to help refugees in his autobiography:

“France had just made an agreement with Mexico to let the Spanish republican refugees out, and Mexico was going to give them asylum and provide the boats to transport them.” [Fry, 1945, p. 59]

To house the refugees while they were waiting to escape, Bosques maintained two large estates just outside of Marseilles.  In these buildings, which were former castles, he organized shelter, food, medicine and schools for refugees.  These estates served as large dormitories where refugees could be safe from arrest and deportation.  He even set up schools and entertainment facilities for the stranded and endangered refugees.  Bosques kept meticulous accounts of funds that he received and distributed on behalf of the refugees.  (These records are still on file in the Mexican diplomatic archives.  There are 124 boxes of material on Bosques’ rescue efforts in Marseilles and southern France.)

In 1940, Bosques and Rodriguez presented Laval and the Pétain government with a formal letter of complaint (demarche) regarding France’s treatment of Jews and other refugees and, in particular, the terrible conditions inside the French-administered internment camps.  Bosques and his staff made inspection visits to some of the camps and wrote reports, which he forwarded to various refugee agencies and to the Mexican government.

Members of the Mexican legation would visit the nearby concentration camp of Les Milles and negotiate for the release of prisoners from the camp.  People were released from these camps on the strength of obtaining a Mexican visa to leave the country.

Consul General Gilberto Bosques personally intervened with the President of Mexico, Lázaro Cárdenas, and later President Avila Camacho [who took office in 1940], to help Spanish Republican refugees and Jews.

Bosques’ activity in Marseilles was constantly monitored by the French police, the Gestapo and by Franco’s agents in France.  Ironically, the Mexican consulate was placed in the same building as the Japanese consulate.  Bosques reports, in his oral history, about being spied upon and watched by the Japanese diplomats.

“Another situation that presented itself...was related to the fact that we were objects of vigilance, of espionage.  The activities of the Gestapo were felt in a weighted and heavy manner, along with the espionage of the police of Vichy and all of the agencies of the Vichy government in coordination with the Gestapo.  Additionally, the Spanish police maintained their agents there to watch over the movements of the Spanish refugees in France under the protection of Mexico.  Therefore, an investigation related to espionage and the "fifth column" got started.”

…In the building that we occupied in Marseille, they installed the Japanese consulate in the upper floors, and they watched all of our actions.  The people who came to our consulate were under the eyes of these gentlemen.” [Bosques oral history]

Consul General Bosques had to be constantly vigilant against having his rescue operation penetrated by spies.  He stated:

“Spying was an important preoccupation for the consulate.  We had to be very alert, because when we tried to aid the members of the international brigades, we found German spies.  These were coming from the border of Alsace and Lorraine and spoke very good French.  They presented themselves with documents beyond reproach and asked for the assistance of Mexico for their supposed exit from France, with the intent of becoming part of a group of refugees to spy on them.” [Bosques oral history]

Bosques used many of the refugees he saved as a means of gathering intelligence.

“The various refugees, including Italians, Germans, Austrians, etc., were men of many talents, but primarily intellectuals, logical enemies of Mussolini and Hitler, and their totalitarian governments.  So, we thought, why not take advantage of these people for the necessary investigative work?  It would have been a lack of common sense not to do it.  Thus, we came into contact with all of these people.  We proposed to collect facts to study the situation in all of the involved sectors of the war.  For this, we had the luck of being able to count on the meaningful help of men of intellectual prestige.  A plan was formed to establish, contextualize, and illuminate the political, economic and military situation in Europe.  It was possible for me to collect a great quantity of information, which grew to be as big as a book.” [Bosques oral history]

One of the more prominent groups with which Bosques and his legation staff worked was Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC).  The ERC helped to rescue artists, writers, scientists and other intellectuals, utilizing exit visas from Bosques’ consulate.  Bosques also worked with a number of other rescue and relief agencies operating in southern France, including the Nîmes Committee.  The Nimes Committee was comprised of more than 25 rescue agencies.  They included the Unitarian Committee, the Mennonite Committee, the American Friends’ Service Committee (Quakers), the American Federation of Labor and others.  Bosques also distributed money that he received from Jewish relief agencies.

After Fry left France, he commented on how Consul General Gilberto Bosques continued to use his diplomatic position to issue Mexican visas to desperate refugees.  In his autobiography, Fry relates:

“When I arrived in New York, I learned that the State Department had devised a new and cruelly difficult form of visa application, which made it almost impossible for refugees to enter this country.  Fortunately, Mexico and Cuba were more humane, and our office in Marseille (which still continued to function) sent out nearly three hundred more people between the time I left and the time it was raided and closed by the police, on June 2, 1942.” [Fry, 1945, p. 236]

Lisa Fittko describes Paul Westheim getting a Mexican visa from the office of Gilberto Bosques:

“Paul Westheim came trotting up a little later, wearing his old uniform, and showed us a paper: a visa for Mexico.  For him, the well-known critic, the polemicist against the “Kunstpolitik” of the Nazis, it had surely been easy to procure an entry permit.  Another person rescued!” [Fittko, 1991, p. 176]

In a letter addressed to Bosques on March 23rd, 1941, Dr. Alfred Kantorowicz, a Jewish survivor, full of gratitude, wrote:

“I have the pleasure to announce that we shall be leaving tomorrow—via Martinique—to Mexico. I cannot leave Marseilles without repeating the sincere thanks, both my wife's and mine, for everything you have done for us. If we can leave, it is thanks to your protection and help.”

As a result of the continued deportation of Jews by the Germans and the collaboration of the French Vichy government, Bosques recommended to President Camacho that Mexico formally break relations with Germany and France.  Initially, the secretary of foreign relations disagreed with Bosques’ recommendation.  In his oral history, Bosques recounts:

“When we decided to break relations between Mexico and the government of Vichy, I was in charge of the diplomatic mission.”

“…I believed that it was appropriate at the time to propose to the [Mexican] government, by means of foreign relations, to sever our relationship with France, setting forth a principal of universal resonance, a principle that was at the base of this war because it dealt with Jewish persecution and the elimination of the race.  The Secretary of Foreign Relations, as I recall, answered saying that he would consider and examine my proposal but that he believed that it was inopportune at that time.  It turns out that my beliefs as to what was incumbent upon the Secretary were not in conformity with his ideas.” [Bosques oral history]

After breaking formal relations with France and Germany, Bosques prepared to close the Mexican legation.  As he was closing the legation, his office was invaded by the Gestapo.

“After the breaking of relations, we prepared to confront certain conditions.  We had to burn the files of the mission.  In so doing, I was overtaken by the Germans.  The event took on a violent nature.  A German official of the army, charged with representing his government, came with a violent and brutal group from the Gestapo.  Thus, an incident took place.  They told me to open the safe so that they could see what was inside.  I told them that there was only money.  The army official responded that he did not care about the money, that they did not come for money and that they wanted to see the contents.  I opened the safe and they saw that there was only money.  However, the Gestapo then went on the offensive...” [Bosques oral history]

The Gestapo confiscated all of the money in the safe.  After Bosques insisted that the Gestapo sign for the money, there ensued “…a tremendous tumult by the agents who appeared prepared to kill us.”

Because of the break in Mexican relations with Germany and France in November 1942, Bosques and the staff of the Mexican legation in France, along with their families, were arrested by German and French officials.  Bosques recalls:

“Afterwards, they made arrangements for our departure from France.  They sent us to Amelie-le-Bains [above the Pyrenees]....”

“…The French government had chosen this spot while they made the necessary arrangements for our departure from France and our return to Mexico.  It was simply a waiting point while these negotiations were carried out, for which they commissioned a French consulate, an employee of the ministry, and some French police to watch us.  Afterwards, they brought us to Mont D'or in the department of Clermont-Ferrand to deliver us there to the Germans.” [Bosques oral history]

Bosques soon realized that he would not be released and repatriated back to Mexico, but would be sent to Germany.

“When we were in Amelie-le-Bains, we believed that it was possible that the French government would fulfill their promise and help us to leave their country.  But, when we saw that the missions of Cuba and Bolivia left and that we were still there, we began to suspect that this had been a significant delay.  While these negotiations were completed, we arrived at Mont D’or.  In the hotel, the German soldiers and guards had already arrived, as well as the Gestapo officials that mixed among us in order to guard our movements.  This was when we realized, as I indicated in the note that I directed to the government of Laval, that we were to be moved to Germany.” [Bosques oral history]

Bosques, his family and other members of his diplomatic staff were sent to the German city of Bad Godesberg, where they were interned for a year.  Interned along with them were Brazilian ambassador de Sousa Dantas and members of the Brazilian legation and other South American diplomats.

During their stay in Germany, Bosques and members of the Mexican and Brazilian legations were in danger because of the constant Allied bombings of the area around Bad Godesberg.  Bosques had his wife, two daughters and a son with him.

Bosques and his staff were released and repatriated in a prisoner exchange with Nazi Germany in 1944.

In 1944, Bosques wrote modestly regarding his rescue efforts:

“I followed the policy of my country, helping, giving material and moral support to the heroic advocates of the Spanish Republic, of the brave heroes of the struggle against Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Pétain and Laval.”

When Bosques returned to Mexico City, he was greeted by thousands of people he had helped save from the clutches of Nazi barbarity.

Ambassador Bosques after World War II

After World War II, Gilberto Bosques continued his life in education, journalism, politics and the diplomatic service.  Bosques was appointed Minister of Mexico to Portugal, Finland and Sweden.  Later, he was appointed Ambassador to Cuba, and representing Mexico to the government of Fidel Castro.

After retirement, the people of Puebla, Mexico, honored Bosques with a commemorative plaque at the Congress of the State of Puebla.

In 1993, a bust of Bosques was placed in the Trotsky Museum in Mexico City on behalf of the refugees he helped save.

On June 4th, 2003, a street in Vienna was named for Gilberto Bosques.

In 2006, the Visas for Life program created a major exhibition on Ambassador Bosques.  The exhibit, A Man for All Times: The Story of Mexican Ambassador Gilberto Bosques and the Rescue of Jews in Marseilles, was created in cooperation with the Tuvie Maizel Museum of the Holocaust and the Simon Wiesenthal Center - Museum of Tolerance.  It opened in Mexico City at the Jewish Community Center, and then toured to the Mexican foreign ministry.  Bosques’ sister and grandchildren attended the opening.  Bosques was also added to the Visas for Life exhibit, which was shown at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in 2008.

Gilberto Bosques has yet to be honored by the State of Israel.  Nor has he been honored either in Mexico or the United States for his rescue activities.

He rarely discussed his actions to save Jews and other refugees in southern France.

Gilberto Bosques died peacefully in 1995 at the age of 103.

Special Thanks

The Visas for Life program would like to thank the Gilberto Bosques family for their cooperation in the creation of this exhibit.  They include Laura Bosques, Gilberto Bosques Tistler, Teresa Bosques Tistler, and Erendira Bosques Tistler.


 

Updated November 24, 2019