Carlos de Liz-Teixeira Branquinho

Alberto Carlos de Liz-Teixeira Branquinho (27 January 1902 – 1973) was a Portuguese diplomat credited with saving the lives of 1,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from Hungarian Fascists and the Nazis during the later stages of World War II, while serving as Portugal’s Chargé d'Affaires in Budapest in 1944.

[1] On 23 April 1944 and following the German occupation of Hungary, the Portuguese ruler António de Oliveira Salazar decided to order his ambassador to return to Lisbon and leave Teixeira Branquinho as the chargé d'affaires, in his place.

[3] After the war Branquinho continued to serve his country as a diplomat in Washington, Jakarta, Paris, Caracas, Baghdad, Tehran and the Hague, where he acted with Ambassador’s credentials.

Branquinho's case never gained the same level of recognition as did the Aristides de Sousa Mendes', another Portuguese diplomat credited with saving Jews from the holocaust.

Historian Tom Gallagher argues that Branquinho's case has been largely overlooked probably because he was coordinating his actions with Salazar and that weakens the core argument in the Sousa Mendes legend that he was defying a tyrannical superior.

Commemorative plaque to Mr. Carlos Sampaio Garrido, Portugal ambassador and Mr. Teixeira Branquinho chargé d'affaires in mission to Budapest in 1944 who managed to rescue some thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. (Budapest, District XIII, Újpesti Quay Nr 5).
The Raoul Wallenberg-memorial at the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest