# A Quiet Rebel: José Castellanos **URL:** **Published:** November 11, 2025 --- José Castellanos defied both Nazi tyranny and his own government through civil disobedience, saving thousands from the Holocaust. This episode explores the often overlooked classical liberal tradition of civil disobedience through the remarkable story of José Castellanos Contreras, a Salvadoran diplomat who, during World War II, defied orders and international law to save thousands of Jewish people from Nazi death camps. His story, forgotten for decades, embodies the liberal conviction that moral law supersedes state authority.