Portugal, the Consuls, and the Jewish Refugees ... - Yad Vashem

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difficulties in granting them transit visas, knowing that Poland will notreceive them. 16The ambassador in Berlin, Veiga Simões, suggested to Salazar that theyshould inform the German government of the need for a Portuguese consularvisa in passports stamped with the letter J; that is, to Jews who, on leavingGermany, would lose the right to return. 17 This suggestion was meant toprevent the arrival of Jews without violating the existing bilateral agreementbetween Portugal and Germany. Salazar accepted the suggestion andinstructed consuls and shipping companies that the Portuguese consular visawas compulsory in these passports. 18The embassy in Brussels requested instructions about granting visas for thePortuguese colonies to Jews expelled from Germany. 19 And in Lisbon, AdolfoBenarus 20 resigned from the presidency of the Portuguese Committee ofAssistance to Jewish Refugees (COMASSIS), an institution that he hadheaded since 1933. The aging leader, exhausted by years of communityleadership, was unable to cope with the wave of refugees arriving in Lisbon in1938.The consuls usually reported to the Foreign Ministry about the anguishedsituation of Jews so, in 1938, ministers, the heads of their offices, the heads ofdepartments, and especially Oliveira Salazar, became aware of the way theNazis were solving “the Jewish question.” The dictator’s involvement in theissue of the Jewish refugees was no less than in other questions vital to the16João de Lucena to the MNE on June 22, 1938, AMNE 2o. P. A-43, M-38.17Telegram from the Berlin embassy to the MNE, September 7, 1938, AMNE2o. P. A-43, M-38.18Telegram of the MNE to the Berlin embassy, September 30, 1938, AMNE2o. P. A-43, M-38.19Letter from Antonio de Seves, head of the legation in Brussels to the MNE,August 27, 1938, AMNE 2o. P. A-43, M-38.20Adolfo Benarus, one of the leaders of the Jewish community of Lisbon, waspresident of the Zionist Federation, founder and director of the Jewish school,wrote books on Jewish and Zionist issues and was in touch with Jewishleaders, such as Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Goldman. See farewell letterdated April 22, 1941, of Dr. Augusto d’Esaguy, who succeeded AdolfoBenarus in the presidency of COMASSIS, Archive of the Jewish Communityof Lisbon. Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem,(CAHJP) Po/Li/A-II/12a, 2.__________________________________________________________________________6/31Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies
future of Portugal in the 1930s and the 1940s. The civil war in Spain and itspolitical-military implications on the Iberian level was the historical momentthat paved the way for Salazar’s involvement in international affairs. 21 It wasnot by chance that, in 1936, Salazar, who was already head of the Council ofMinisters and Minister of Finances, also took on the functions of minister ofForeign Affairs and minister of War.In spite of the logistic support that Salazar offered the Spanish nationalists,Portugal did not regard itself safe from the ideological-imperialist threatsbreeding in the radical wing of the Falangists, who aspired to create a “GreatSpain” that would embrace Portuguese territory. For the Germans, thenationalist victory predestined the fascist superiority over the republican,liberal, and parliamentarian models. However, the German strategicimplications went further than might be apparent at first. The ideologicalauthoritarianclimate of the Iberian Peninsula on the eve of the war led theGermans to visualize a different Europe, more German than British. 22 Salazarunderstood that intervention of the Axis countries in the Spanish civil warwould render Portuguese colonial interests vulnerable and would upset thecenturies-old historic alliance between Portugal and Great Britain.With Salazar’s recognition of the need to neutralize the Iberian Peninsula anddistance it from a possible confrontation between the two belligerent blocks, 23he began increasing the dimensions of the Police of Vigilance and Defense ofthe State (Polícia de Vigilancia e Defeza do Estado; PVDE), thus enlarging itsinfluence in the Portuguese state apparatus. This was the case especially forthe International Section of the PVDE, which controlled the borders and theentry of foreigners. 24 21Rosas, ed., O Estado Novo (1926-1974), pp. 295-299.22Fernando Rosas, O Salazarismo e a Aliança Luso-Britânica (Lisbon: Ed.Fragmentos, 1988), pp. 13-49-107-120.23Cesar Oliveira, “A Sobrevivência das Ditaduras e a Neutralidade Peninsularna Segunda Guerra Mundial” in O Estado Novo das Origens ao Fim daAutarcia 1926-1959 (Lisboa: ed. Fragmentos, 1987), pp. 357-366; see also“Oliveira Salazar e a Política Externa Portuguesa: 1932-1968” in Salazar e oSalazarismo (Lisboa: Publicações Dom Quixote, 1989), pp.71-83.24Studies about the PVDE are few, and their absence is more evident inmatters referring to the admission and control of foreigners. From 1933, thePVDE became the main agent of social and political control of the regime,__________________________________________________________________________7/31Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies
Page 1 and 2: Portugal, the Consuls, and the Jewi
Page 3 and 4: historiography remains incomplete s
Page 5: these passed through Lisbon in the
Page 9 and 10: instructions to shipping companies
Page 11 and 12: 36 For someone requesting visas, th
Page 13 and 14: the end of the republic, 42 would c
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Page 17 and 18: firm of Lisbon, was presented in th
Page 19 and 20: foreigners 58 without having been a
Page 21 and 22: The incidents took such proportions
Page 23 and 24: they obtained transit visas, permis
Page 25 and 26: equested to contribute to a Portugu
Page 27: problems of the honorary consul of
Page 30 and 31: corresponding circles of other nati

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