Irene Pimentel Potsdam February 2012
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Transcript of Irene Pimentel Potsdam February 2012
Irene PimentelIrene PimentelPotsdamPotsdam
February 2012February 2012
Jewish refugees and anti-Nazis Jewish refugees and anti-Nazis among the Portugueseamong the Portuguese
during the Second World War during the Second World War
..As soon as Hitler rose to power, in As soon as Hitler rose to power, in 1933, persecutions against Jews, 1933, persecutions against Jews,
political opponents, and all those who political opponents, and all those who the national-socialist government the national-socialist government
considered to be outside the “Arian” considered to be outside the “Arian” Volksgemeinschaft (People’s Volksgemeinschaft (People’s
Community) began.Community) began. As the oppression and anti-Semitic As the oppression and anti-Semitic
laws toughened, the number of refugees laws toughened, the number of refugees seeking sanctuary in other European seeking sanctuary in other European
countries grew.countries grew.
The European Countries closed their doors to The European Countries closed their doors to the refugees.the refugees.
Portugal also began to restrict its border policy Portugal also began to restrict its border policy namely to “emigrants” who could not return to namely to “emigrants” who could not return to
their country of origin, as was the case of their country of origin, as was the case of German Jews.German Jews.
Joining these, following the “annexation” of Joining these, following the “annexation” of Austria, the invasion of the Sudetes and of Austria, the invasion of the Sudetes and of
Poland , were the Austrians, Czechoslovakian Poland , were the Austrians, Czechoslovakian and Polish.and Polish.
Following the invasion of several European Following the invasion of several European countries, particularly France by the countries, particularly France by the
Wehrmacht, those fleeing Hitler who had found Wehrmacht, those fleeing Hitler who had found refuge in other countries had to continue refuge in other countries had to continue
fleeing, ever more westwards.fleeing, ever more westwards.
Portugal, a neutral country during the
Second World War, became one of the
few European places of refuge for the
large number of refugees, fleeing from
war and the persecution of the
national-socialist regime.
Difficulties
• the entry of refugees was hindered by the
Police
•their presence tolerated as a temporary stay
• permanent exile was prohibited.
They waited in Portugal for a visa and a
means of transport that would take them to
Africa, South America or to the USA where
there were entry quotas according to
nationality.
THE PORTUGUESE DICTATORSHIP:
• nationalistic
• sympathised with the anti-communism and anti-
liberalism of the German regime
BUT:
• it differentiated itself in key aspects from the
totalitarian, expansionist, and racist German regime
•the anti-Semitism was absent in its ideology and in
Portuguese society
• the Portuguese neutrality allowed for the rescue through
Portugal of those persecuted by national-socialism.
Factors that allowed Portugal Factors that allowed Portugal to rescue many of those to rescue many of those persecuted by German national-persecuted by German national-socialismsocialism
1. Portugal under the Oliveira Salazar’s
dictatorship
• Civil dictatorship institutionalised by the 1933
Constitution
• Suppression of freedom of expression and association
•Reorganization of censorship
•Creation of the “Police of Vigilance and Defence of the
State”, in charged of emigration and border control
• an authoritarian an authoritarian dictatorshipdictatorship
• a head of government who a head of government who controlled a National controlled a National Assembly composed of a Assembly composed of a single party, elected in non-single party, elected in non-competitive electionscompetitive elections
• the ideals of the far right the ideals of the far right with traditional with traditional conservatism and conservatism and corporatist, anti-liberal and corporatist, anti-liberal and anti-communist Catholicismanti-communist Catholicism
1935 – 1936: a paramilitary militia 1935 – 1936: a paramilitary militia ( “The Portuguese Legion”) and state ( “The Portuguese Legion”) and state organizations of women and youth were organizations of women and youth were createdcreated
Not a biological Not a biological racismracism
Biological racism – namely Biological racism – namely anti-Semitism – was not part of anti-Semitism – was not part of the Salazar ideology the Salazar ideology
Salazar’s ideology applied the Salazar’s ideology applied the term “race” in the context of a term “race” in the context of a national historic and cultural national historic and cultural communitycommunity
Even when political rights Even when political rights were removed, the Portuguese were removed, the Portuguese were not driven out of the were not driven out of the “nation” and retained their “nation” and retained their nationalitynationality
The Portuguese Jewish community, The Portuguese Jewish community, with about 3000 members, was with about 3000 members, was integrated in society, many of them integrated in society, many of them practicing liberal professions such as practicing liberal professions such as medicine and law - medicine and law - NO ONE WAS NO ONE WAS CLASSIFIED AS “JEWISH”CLASSIFIED AS “JEWISH”..
The The PortuguesePortuguese::
Did not discriminate the Did not discriminate the Jews for being JewishJews for being Jewish
Did not understand why a Did not understand why a German Jew was no German Jew was no longer German because longer German because he/she was Jewishhe/she was Jewish
2. Portugal in the Second World
War, a neutral country:
•at first it was “equidistant” between the two
fighting camps
•from the second-half of 1942 onwards it
became “collaborative” with the Anglo-
American side
Portugal’s neutrality was facilitated by the
Allies as well as the Axis.
3. Difficulties faced by refugees from 1936
•1936 - the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs restricts
entry to stateless individuals and Poles with a 30 day visa.
•1938 – it stipulated that “Jewish emigrants” would henceforth
require “tourist” visas, valid for 30 days, to enter Portugal
It was the word “emigrant”, who were not allowed
to return to their country of origin (Germany) and
not the word “Jewish” that scared the Portuguese
authorities.
• Until October 1941, Germany incentivized the exit-expulsion of Jews by stealing their possessions and property and prohibiting their return.
• Following the Austrian Anschluss (annexation), the creation of anti-Semitic laws in Italy and the crystal-night pogrom in Germany, the “flood” into neighboring countries of these “emigrants” who could not return to their country of origin, led to the conference of Evian, in July 1938, which “settled” the issue by limiting the entry and stay of refugees.
• Germany began, in 1938, to place the letter “J” on all Jewish passports.
Why?Why?
Although it was not anti-Semitism that motivated
the Portuguese government, but the danger of mass
emigration to the country, the outcome of the
border policy became objectively anti-Semitic.
The director of The director of the political the political police sent a police sent a confidential confidential letter to Salazar letter to Salazar askingasking::
for a toughening of visa for a toughening of visa policy, in particularly for policy, in particularly for Jews, «generally morally Jews, «generally morally and politically and politically undesirable». undesirable».
For the refusal of those who:For the refusal of those who: do not possess financial means do not possess financial means
for their stay in Portugalfor their stay in Portugal cannot return to their country of cannot return to their country of
originorigin plan to travel to America but plan to travel to America but
show no guarantee of being able show no guarantee of being able to do so to do so
without an entry visa for the without an entry visa for the country of final destinationcountry of final destination
- 1939 - Salazar sent out a memo to its diplomatic
missions stating that henceforth only career diplomats,
and no longer honorary consuls, could grant visas.
- On January 1940 - the PVDE prohibited the Amsterdam
consulate from granting visas to “all” Jewish Germans,
even those who had destination visas
- On December 1940 - transit visas were only granted
with prior authorization from the PVDE
This tougher measure was introduced as a
result of the action of the consul in
Bordeaux, Aristides Sousa Mendes, who
granted thousands of visas against
Salazar’s orders.
July 1933 July 1933 - a law prohibited foreigners to - a law prohibited foreigners to work for others in sectors where there was work for others in sectors where there was unemployment of Portuguese nationals, but unemployment of Portuguese nationals, but they were allowed to be self-employedthey were allowed to be self-employed
April 1939 April 1939 - foreigners would not be - foreigners would not be allowed to practice medicine, except in allowed to practice medicine, except in exceptional circumstancesexceptional circumstances
October 1940October 1940 - this was extended to the - this was extended to the theatre theatre
March 1942 March 1942 - to engineering and - to engineering and architecturearchitecture..
The majority of refugees:
•would only be granted a Portuguese transit visa once they had
the visa for their country of final destination and a ticket to
continue their journey
• would only remain in Portugal for the time of their arrival and
departure.
Many stayed in the country for longer. One of the main
difficulties was surviving in a country where they were
prohibited from working.
“Refugee centres”:
•hotels, boarding houses and rented rooms many of them supported
by American aid organizations
• refugees could not work or travel more than 3 kilometres away
from the place of “fixed residence” without authorisation from the
Police, although they had free transit within these places.
4. Refugees among the Portuguese
1940 – 1941 - According to an estimate made by the
Israeli Community of Lisbon, about 40 000 refugees had
entered Portugal.
.
5. The arrival of new customs to the Portuguese
capital
•The presence of refugees in public spaces (cafés,
esplanades) introduced new habits
• Some Portuguese women were attracted to the
“independent look of these women” and despite the
scandal, there began to emerge among them a
fascination for the new habits (the short hair-cut
refugee-style, cork-wedged shoes and short dresses)
Portugal became “the most western beach of Europe
where now a variety of languages are spoken and where
women of all types of beauty can be found” (Diário de
Notícias, September 1940)
New swimwear regulations were
approved: swimsuits had to
include a petticoat, for women,
and a shirt that covered the
upper body for men.
6. A farewell to Europe
At their hour of departure, Lisbon symbolised the
farewell of the Europe which, despite everything, they
did not want to abandon.
In October 1940, Heinrich Mann:
“Looking upon Lisbon I saw the port. It would be the
image of Europe that remains. I thought it incredibly
beautiful. A beloved one lost could not be more
beautiful. All that was given to me, I lived it in Europe,
joy and sadness (…) But the how painful that farewell
was”.
Hans Natonek, 1941:
“Before me, in front of me, almost disappearing, were
some of the most beautiful scenes of the European past,
baroque and gothic (…) in the golden light of the setting
sun I saw the towers of Prague, the gentle Austrian
landscape, Luxemburg, Paris – a whole life lived in
Europe (…) It was as if this last look made Europe
disappear”
The End
-- During those days in June, Captain Agostinho Lourenço, of the
PVDE, went immediately to the frontier, where he was forced to
distribute the mass of refugees that were gathering there.
- He therefore decided to put in action the idea suggested by
Comassis, to transfer many of them to resort areas where there
were hotels and boarding houses.
- This suggestion came from Augusto d’Esaguy, head of the
COMASSIS whose goal was to reduce the tension felt by the
Portuguese authorities due to the chaotic border situation, and
as such get the government to ease the rules for granting
transit visas.
- This idea also alleviated the situation in Lisbon, where there
were thousands of refugees, at a time when the Exhibition of
the Portuguese World and the Double Centenary was taking
place.
In “Refugee centres” , refugees could not work or travel
more than 3 kilometres away from their place of “fixed
residence” without authorisation from the PVDE, although
they had free transit within these places where they lived in
hotels, boarding houses and rented rooms many of them
supported by American aid organisations.- One of the main difficulties
for refugees in these places
was to find a way to make a
living as well as obtaining visas
for countries of exile as these
could only be requested in
Lisbon or Oporto, where
refugees would sometimes go
without police authorisation
risking prison.
extensions of very little
duration.
- Although initially authorisations for residence were
almost always renewed, from the end of 1940 the PVDE
began to grant only.
- For those who in 1940, and following years, spent a brief
time in the capital, Lisbon appeared to them as a peaceful
and illuminated “paradise”, with bustling shops where
there was no war or black outs and where they did not
feel persecuted.
- But, for those more observant, the cosmopolitan image of
the capital could not hide the sight of barefooted
children, beggars, char ladies, shoe polishers and
degraded neighbourhoods in a country where
appearances were everything and men were dominant.
The German intellectual Eva Lewinski felt on arriving to
Lisbon in October 1940, the same relief as most refugees.
However, she also felt unease and indignation in face of the
misery:
“Suddenly, walking free in the street without papers or fear of
the police, sitting in cafes, speaking in whichever language we
liked, seeing the street lights throughout the night, seeing the
shops filled with foodstuffs, newspapers in all languages,
books, books, books (…) but right next to the rich part of town
there was Alfama, where the misery and dirt were
indescribable (…) It should never be forgotten».
crianças.htm
- “Lisbon is sold out”, was how the Czech journalist Eugen
Tillinger described the Portuguese capital in October 1940
before being placed in “fixed residence” at Figueira da Foz.
- According to him, you almost never heard Portuguese being
spoken in Rossio square. “The cafes and restaurants are
overflowing” – wrote the Czech journalist – “there arrived in
the country considerable sums of foreign currency which are
circulated among the immigrants. But the Portuguese are
aware of this and are very kind to foreigners”
As Tillinger himself pointed out, the owners of boarding
houses and hotels, those who rented out rooms, shop and café
employees as well as exporters who, breaking the blockade,
would send products to countries occupied by the Axis, all
these were who profited most from the presence of the
refugees.
4.1 The arrival of new customs to the Portuguese capital
- The forced idleness brought out a mass of refugees into
public spaces where their presence introduced new habits
- Café esplanades, and the more liberated attitude of the
refugees which sat in them, were phenomena that marked the
Portuguese during the war period.
- some Portuguese women began to be attracted to the
“independent look of these women” and despite the scandal,
there began to emerge among them a fascination for the new
habits.
- The foreign women influenced fashion, with the introduction
of the turban, the short hair-cut refugee-style, cork-wedged
shoes and short dresses.
- Following their example, many young Portuguese women also
started to sit in cafés, going alone to the cinema and leaving
the house without stockings, gloves or a hat.
- Also, the beaches started to fill with refugees from the
summer of 1940 onwards. On the 11th September the
portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias had an article
rejoicing in the fact that Portugal had become “the most
western beach of Europe where now a variety of
languages are spoken and where women of all types of
beauty can be found”On 13th October 1941 however, another
article in O Seculo announced new
swimwear regulations, recently
approved by the Ministry of the
Interior.
- The presence of the refugees was, in
this way, also the cause of the
introduction of new laws regulating
habits, namely regarding the use of
swimsuits, which had to include a
petticoat, for women, and a shirt that
covered the upper body for men.
6. A farewell to Europe
At their hour of departure, Lisbon symbolised the
farewell of the Europe which, despite everything, they
did not want to abandon.
In October 1940, Heinrich Mann:
“Looking upon Lisbon I saw the port. It would be the
image of Europe that remains. I thought it incredibly
beautiful. A beloved one lost could not be more
beautiful. All that was given to me, I lived it in Europe,
joy and sadness (…) But the how painful that farewell
was”.
Hans Natonek, 1941:
“Before me, in front of me, almost disappearing, were
some of the most beautiful scenes of the European past,
baroque and gothic (…) in the golden light of the setting
sun I saw the towers of Prague, the gentle Austrian
landscape, Luxemburg, Paris – a whole life lived in
Europe (…) It was as if this last look made Europe
disappear”
- From 1942 onwards, it became easier for the few refugees
that still made it to Portugal, who were now mostly
individuals who could still enter the country, sometimes
clandestinely.
- In this same period, both refugee aid organisations and the
allied governments would intercede on behalf of refugees to
obtain permits from the MNE for dislocation to and
permanent stay in Portugal.
- Also in 1942, following an agreement between these
organisations and the police, incarcerated refugees, being
“social and political” prisoners, or clandestine or without
papers, were released and placed in “fixed residence”.
- After 1943, when the Portuguese neutrality became
collaborative with the allies who had started to win the war,
the Portuguese government became more susceptible to
Anglo-American pressure to save those persecuted by Nazism.
- On 4th February 1943, the German embassy in Lisbon
informed Salazar and the minister of Foreign Affairs, “out of
courtesy”, that they were intending to detain and expel all
foreign Jews in occupied countries.
- Jews with a Portuguese passport were from then on
considered national citizens and so the government treated
them differently to other refugees. 140 Sephardic Jews of
Portuguese ancestry resident in France and about 30 Jews in
Greece with a Portuguese passport, some of which were
already in the concentration camp of Bergen Belsen, were
repatriated.
- It should be noted, however, that while the MNE, which stated
its reasons were humanitarian ones,
-although in reality it was pressure from the Vatican and the
American government, allowed the repatriation, the PVDE on
the other hand, stating fake claims of nationality, wanted to
postpone the repatriation proposing only wealthy refugees who
could prove their Portuguese nationality should be allowed into
Portugal
- However, the “repatriation” campaign of Portuguese Jews
involved a small number of those persecuted and who, for their
survival in Portugal, relied on the support of ally countries and
international aid organisations.
- Adding to this, Portugal did not allow a permanent stay even in
these cases.
.
- It seems that Jewish aid organisations
exaggerated the number of refugees
that passed through Portugal; for
example the American Jewish Joint
Committee stated that between 1940
and the beginning of 1944 about 100
000 refugees came through Portugal.- If this number is inflated, then the one supplied to António Leite de
Faria, a diplomat in London, by MI6 certainly is according to whom
150 000 Jews found refuge in or passed through Portugal.
- In short, although it is difficult to obtain accurate estimates, due
also to the existence of clandestine refugees, it is thought that
during the Second World War between 50 000 and 100 000 refugees
came to Portugal, with the highest number during the summer of
1940.
Portugal and the “saving” of those persecuted by Hitler- Knowing exactly how many refugees passed through Portugal during the Second World War is difficult due to the lack of sources.
- In Portugal all was done to ensure the refugees did not
integrate or settle, even though the government, who didn’t
directly assist the refugees, allowed aid organisations to do
so.
- Salazar managed in a pragmatic and nationalistic manner
the inevitable and unwanted invasion, not wanting refugees
to take up places in the workplace nor to infect, with their
cultural and political opinions, the dictated life imposed on
the Portuguese.
- After the first regime crisis passed, after the war, Salazar
could breathe a sigh of relief as he had managed, with no
great pain, to make Portugal into a temporary refuge where
foreigners did not mingle dangerously with the Portuguese or
introduce new political ideas.
- The following episode may explain Salazar’s attitude:
- Among the refugees remaining in France, after 24th June
1940 – when the consulate in Bayonne was closed following
the granting of thousands of visas by the consul Aristides
de Sousa Mendes and Spanish authorities stopped
accepting Portuguese documents – there were 1000 Poles.
- By passing on a request from the diplomatic
representative in Poland, so that his compatriots would be
authorised to continue their journey and enter Portugal,
Armindo Monteiro, ambassador in Great Britain, in London,
interceded on their behalf using the argument that these
were “people pure of race”.
- Salazar refused their visas, stating that these refugees,
non-Jewish, were “precisely” the most “undesirable”:
«Refugees of a political and intellectual nature (…) are
the least desirable due to the activities that they will
want to carry out. Besides this, their sheer number
would require pre-emptive security and an immediate
departure to other countries, as there is no housing
capacity. Visas granted in Bordeaux were done so
against the specific instructions of the MNE by a consul
that I have already removed from office»
- The argument reveals that the Portuguese dictator was
especially concerned not only with the arrival, and
settlement, in mass, of foreigners with no possibility of
returning to their countries, but also the presence of other
cultural values and political ideas that could influence the
Portuguese people.
A farewell to Europe
- With the refugees, Europe “came” to Portugal and through
them the Portuguese could no longer ignore that they
belonged to the European continent.
- At their hour of departure, Lisbon symbolised the farewell,
perhaps forever, of that same Europe who, despite
everything, they did not want to abandon.
-In October 1940, Heinrich Mann said goodbye to Europe
with a last image of Lisbon.
“Looking upon Lisbon I saw the port. It would be the
image of Europe that remains. I thought it incredibly
beautiful. A beloved one lost could not be more
beautiful. All that was given to me, I lived it in Europe,
joy and sadness (…) But the how painful that farewell
was”.
For Hans Natonek, when the ship left the Tagus bar, in the
early months of 1941, the westernmost city of Europe
summarized, in the setting sun, a whole life lived on that
continent.
“Before me, in front of me, almost disappearing, were
some of the most beautiful scenes of the European past,
baroque and gothic (…) in the golden light of the setting
sun I saw the towers of Prague, the gentle Austrian
landscape, Luxemburg, Paris – a whole life lived in
Europe (…) It was as if this last look made Europe
disappear”
- 1) Reasons stemming from the structure of the regime itself,
that reflect the character of the New State/Estado Novo and in
particular the absence of anti-Semitism.
- 2) Circumstantial reasons arising from Portugal’s foreign
policy during the Second World War.
- 3) Difficulties that force us to look at how the Portuguese
authorities behaved: the PVDE, Salazar and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Refugees among the Portuguese - In June 1940, a large amount of refugees reached the Portuguese border at Vilar Formoso, most of which had visas granted by the consulate in Bordeaux, Aristides Sousa Mendes.- According to an estimate made by the Israeli Community of Lisbon (CIL) and Joint, by August 1940 about 12 000 refugees had entered Portugal, which grew to 14 000 by November.- The same Joint highlighted that between June 1940 and May 1941, about 40 000 people had entered Portugal, a figure close to the one given by Comassis who stated 42 000 refugees had been supported this organisation.- During those days in June, Captain Agostinho Lourenço, of the PVDE, went immediately to Vilar Formoso from Lisbon, where he was forced to distribute the mass of refugees that were gathering there.- He therefore decided to put in action the idea suggested by Comassis, to transfer many of them to resort areas where there were hotels and boarding houses.
-, in its dealings with society, the
Estado Novo did not dominate over
all of society and allowed Family,
Army and Church to have their own
place.
- This happened even when, whilst
becoming more fascist in 1935 and
1936, a paramilitary militia was
created – the Portuguese Legion – and
state organisations of woman and
youths .
- For Great-Britain it was important to maintain the
neutrality of the Iberian Peninsula and ensure the safety
of the Atlantic and Mediterranean routes through the
cooperation of Salazar in preventing Germany allying
with Spain, who had just come out of a civil war where
the “nationalists” had won with the support of Germany
and Italy.
- On the other hand, the “equidistant” neutrality was also
economically advantageous to Germany who imported,
throughout the whole war, Portuguese and colonial
products it required.
- In June 1940, the arrival of Germans at the Pyrenees,
the declaration of “non-belligerence” by the Spanish and
the reinforcement of the Falangist’s German front in the
neighbouring country, put the neutrality in peril.
Hitler sought to occupy Gibraltar and the Iberian Peninsula
through Operation Félix, planned for 12th November 1940.
- In the end, Germany cancelled the operation and moved its
troops to the Balkans and Soviet Union, which was invaded in
June 1941.
xxxxxxxxxxx
- Two fields where the neutrality remained “equidistant” until
almost the end of the war were those of espionage and
propaganda on the one hand, and commercial ties on the
other.
- Portugal maintained its commercial ties with Germany, until
the second semester of 1944, through the exports and re-
exports of products that were vital to the Russian campaign,
especially tungsten, a fundamental component of the German
armoury.
But, as the course of the war changed in favour of the Allies,
when the salazarist wish for “a peace without winners or
losers” became improbable, a fear that a victory for the
Allies would mean the end of the New State/Estado Novo
became instilled in the heart of the regime.
- Portuguese neutrality went from “equidistant” to
“collaborative” with western Allies.
- In August 1943, after extensive talks, Salazar gave in to the
Anglo-American demands for the strategic use of a military
base on the Azores and in January 1944 declared an
embargo on the sale of tungsten to Germany, at the request
of England.
- In exchange, Salazar was able to maintain the regime and
Empire after the war.
4. Refugees among the
Portuguese
- In June 1940, a large
amount of refugees reached
the Portuguese border,
most of which had visas
granted by Aristides Sousa
Mendes.
.
- According to an estimate
made by the Israeli Community
of Lisbon (CIL) and Joint, by
August 1940 about 12 000
refugees had entered Portugal
- The same Joint highlighted
that between June 1940 and
May 1941, about 40 000 people
had entered Portugal.