Aracy de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa

Aracy de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa, née Aracy Moebius de Carvalho, (Rio Negro, Paraná (state), 1908) is a former Brazilian diplomatic clerk and winner of the Righteous Among the Nations award. Born to a German mother, Aracy was able to speak German, English, and French. She moved to Sao Paulo where she lived with her German first husband Johannes Edward Ludwig Tess until 1935, when they separated. In 1936 she was appointed to the Brazilian Consulate in Hamburg, Germany, where she was made Chief of the Passport Section. She decided to help Jewish people during Kristallnacht, on November 9 1938, when she started to hand out visas to Jews without the red "J" that identified them as such, as Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas non-officially denied visas to Jews. She was in very close relations with underground activists in Germany and would even grant visas to Jews she knew that had forged passports.In 1938 she met fellow diplomat and assistant-Consul João Guimarães Rosa, who would later become her second husband, and one of the most important Brazilian writers. Now with his full acknowledgement, she intensified her humanitarian activity, saving a great number of Jews from imprisonment and death. She remained in Germany until 1942, when Brazil broke relations with Germany and joined the Allied Forces.

On July 8th, 1982 Aracy Carvalho de Guimarães Rosa became one of the two Brazilians honoured by the Yad Vashem with the Righteous Among the Nations award, together with Ambassador Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas.