Portuguese Memorials of World War II, between Remembrance and Oblivion

This chapter focuses on Portuguese memorials of World War II, and how these served to validate Salazar’s neutral stance but also occasionally challenged or at least nuanced the official narrative, especially in East Timor, one of Portugal’s former colonies which was involved directly in the war. It also offers broader reflections on how memories have developed in Madeira, where approximately 2,000 Gibraltarians found refuge during the war, and in continental Portugal where two Holocaust museums opened recently. The chapter concludes by retracing how the memory and rehabilitation of Aristides Sousa Mendes – the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux who, disobeying clear-cut instructions, issued thousands of visas to refugees – gained momentum in recent years without however managing to dispel the many myths elaborated during the dictatorship.