Overview
- Description
- Consists of correspondence, identity documents, instructions, reports, certifications, name lists, and telegrams relating to the Portuguese policies related to Jews in Portugal, France, Hungary and other countries in the era of World War II. Includes material concerning the investigation and dismissal of Aristides de Sousa Mendes from government service and Portuguese policy regarding the admission of Jewish refugees into Portugal. Includes also visa requests from Jews and others hoping to flee Nazi-occupied countries, either passing through or settling in Portugal; as well as records relating of Portugal’s relations with the Holy See, which were fraught with tension during the time Portugal became a republic until the early 1930’s; diplomatic relations with Romania and commercial treaties; information about the plan to send German Jews to Portuguese colonies in Africa and some of these settlements during the 1930’s. Other records include individual requests for transit visas made directly to Antonio Salazar, who took on the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 1930’s; the decree made by Salazar in March, 1939, forbidding Portuguese diplomats from delivering visas to Russians, Czechs, Austrians, Germans, Poles and Jews in general and forbidding the deliverance of transit visas to anyone who did not have a purchased steamship ticket leaving from Portugal; as well as documents pertaining to the internal disciplinary trial of Aristides de Sousa Mendes; documents concerning Jews trying to obtain Portuguese citizenship and protection from the Portuguese legations in Paris, Salonika, Istanbul, and elsewhere; questions concerning questionable claims to Portuguese nationality from Jews born in Russia or elsewhere. Diplomats who helped save Jews include: Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux, José Agusto de Magalhães in Marseille, Sempaio de Texeira in Budapest.
- Alternate Title
- Selected records from the Historic Diplomatic Archives of the Diplomatic Instituto of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Date
-
inclusive:
1924-1960
Physical Details
- Extent
-
34,794 digital images : JPEG.
24 microfilm reels ; 35 mm.
1 CD.
- System of Arrangement
- Organized in the following order: Reel 1: Questions of Nationality, Department of Political Negotiations, (file 2°P., A.57, M.63); Reel 2: Questions of Nationality, Department of Political Negotiations (continued from previous reel), (files 2°P., A.57, M.63 and 2°P., A.57, M.64); Reel 3: Visas, Department of Political Negotiations¸1936-1942, (file 3°P., A.43, M.38); Reel 4: Visas and Passports, 1940-1943, (file 2°P., A.43, M.48); Reel 5: Visas and Passports, 1938-1939, (file 2°P., A.43, M.81 (a.)); Reel 6: Visas and Passports, 1938-1939, (file 2°P., A.43, M.81 (b)); Reel 7-7A: Visa and Passport Issues, 1939-1945, (file 2°P., A.43, M.83); Reel 8: Passports: Circulars, Granted by the Visits, Diplomatic Missions, 1943, (file 2°P., A.44, M.153); Reel 9: Passports, Monthly Lists--General Process, 1940-1945, (file 2°P., A.44, M.154); Reel 10-10A: Issues regarding Refugees, 1939-1949, (file 2°P., A.49, M.112); Reel 11-11A: Issues regarding Refugees, 1940-1949, (file 2°P., A.49, M.113); Reel 12: Various Issues, (file 2°P., A.49, M.123); Reel 13-13A: Jews, 1939-1947, (file 2°P., A.50, M.40); File 14: Jews, 1931-1941, (file 2°P., A.50, M.44); Reel 15: Passports for the Metropolis, 1933-1939, (file 3°P., A.11, M.381); Reel 16: Miscellaneous (3 Collections), no call number; Reel 17: Minorities and Refugees, 1937-1943, (file 2°P., A.47, M.58); Reel 18: Relations with Germany, 1934-1945, (file 2°P., A.48, M.184); Reel 19: Requests for Information regarding missing persons or prisoners of war, 1940-1947, (file 2°P., A.49, M.111); Reel 20: Propaganda Activities of Foreigners in Portugal, 1939-1946, (file 2°P., A.49, M.116).
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. No other access restrictions apply to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Duplication of microfilms will only be done for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's reference purposes; any other duplication of the microfilms must be subject to prior authorization by the holder of the originals. See agreement with the Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Serviço de Arquivo Histórico-Diplomático (Diplomatic Historical Archives of Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
- Copyright Holder
- Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Serviço de Arquivo Histórico-Diplomático
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Portugal--History. Jews--Portugal--History--20th century. Jewish refugees--Portugal--History--20th century--Registers. Refugees, Jewish--Portugal. Prisoners of war--History--20th century--Registers. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Portugal. Executive departments
- Geographic Name
- Portugal--Foreign relations--History--20th century. Portugal
- Personal Name
- Mendes, Aristides de Sousa, 1885-1954.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Serviço de Arquivo Histórico-Diplomático
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Source of acquisition is the Source of acquisition is the Ministerio Negocios Estrangeiros Holocausto. Documents originate from various Portuguese legations, embassies, and consulates all over the world, as well as the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon, press clippings, and private collections belonging to diplomats. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received this collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in 2000, and accretion in Dec. 2013.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-06-27 09:31:57
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn507410
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