As a consul in Marseille, Vichy France, Bosques[a] took initiative to rescue tens of thousands of Jews and Spanish Republican exiles from being deported to Nazi Germany or Francoist Spain.

In 1944, he described his efforts thus: "I followed the policy of my country, of material and moral support to the heroic defenders of the Spanish Republic, the stalwart paladins of the struggle against Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Petain, and Laval.

"[1] Gilberto Bosques Saldívar was born in Chiautla, a mountain village in southern portion of the state of Puebla, southeast of Mexico City.

Bosques organized the First National Pedagogy Congress (Primer Congreso Nacional Pedagógico), and he worked as a journalist with several newspapers and publications.

Fleeing the German occupation of Paris in May 1940, Bosques was instructed by his government to organize a consulate to represent Mexico in Vichy France, which he set up in Marseille.

Bosques rented a castle and a summer holiday camp in Marseilles to house refugees under the protection of what he maintained was Mexican territory under international law.

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.