Our attention has been drawn to two videos from RTP that illustrate well some of the issues discussed in our Newsletter No. 5 on the subject of Refugees in Portugal.
The first, from 2019, looks at Vilar Formoso - Fronteira da Paz and to the museum established in the town’s railway station and dedicated to the many refugees for whom Vilar Formoso was the first chance to touch Portuguese soil. It also looks at the work of the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who was responsible for issuing visas to many of those refugees. The video can be seen by following this link. An earlier video from 2004 on Sousa Mendes is also available here.
To reach Portugal from France, refugees needed transit visas for Spain. These were issued in Bordeaux by Eduardo Propper de Callejón. More information about his work can be read on Wikipedia here. He was the grandfather of the English actress Helena Bonham Carter and a short video showing her learning more about his work is available here.
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BHSP BROCHURE