Carvalho de Aracy

Carvalho de Guimarães Rosa, Aracy Aracy Carvalho was responsible for the visa section in the Brazilian Consulate in Hamburg, Germany, where she worked as a secretary in 1938. In that capacity she helped a group of Jews to obtain visas to Brazil, as well as assisting them to overcome financial difficulties before leaving Germany for Brazil. During the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, Aracy Carvalho sheltered Margarethe Bertel-Levy and her husband in her home. She then helped her and other Jews with all the arrangements for a safe departure from Germany, which included provisions for taking along on board the ship many belongings, including furniture. Albert Feis, Grethe Jacobsberg, Tuch, and Kazenstein, are some of the other Jewish persons who were assisted by Aracy Carvalho in like manner. Aracy Carvalho married the Brazilian consul and writer João Guimarães Rosa in 1940 and they worked together in the Brazilian Hamburg consulate till the disruption of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Germany in mid-1942. Gunther Heilborn, one of the rescued Jews, named his Brazilian born daughter Aracy in her honor. On June 3, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Aracy Carvalho de Guimarães Rosa, as Righteous Among the Nations.