As communities all around the world came together on Tuesday, to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of Portuguese school children from across the country were brought to the Holocaust Museum of Oporto (MHP) to learn about the Holocaust and participate in a new program –  “Nunca Esquecer, em torno da memória do Holocausto“ (Never Forget, around the memory of the Holocaust).

The program, created in collaboration with the Portuguese government, was opened by the Israeli Ambassador to Portugal Dor Shapira who spoke with the children. “The Holocaust must never be forgotten, particularly now when antisemitism is increasingly returning with great strength in many countries around the world,” Shapira said.

The children had the opportunity to visit a reproduction of the Auschwitz dormitories, as well as a name room, a flame memorial, a study center, and a timeline with photographs and screens showing real footage of the Holocaust.

The Holocaust Museum of Oporto, which is supervised by members of the Jewish Community of Oporto, was inaugurated in 2021 and welcomes around 50,000 visitors a year, the majority being school children.

“In this museum, we like to challenge our visitors, and see teenagers posing questions, especially asking how it was possible for the Holocaust to take place, and the Jews as victims of this tragedy,” said Gabriel Senderowicz, the President of the Oporto Jewish Community that built and manages the museum.

The MHP is part of a strategy to combat antisemitism that already includes the Jewish Museum of Porto, school visits to the Porto Synagogue, courses for teachers, history films and charity initiatives in partnership with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Porto.

“Unfortunately, there is a growing feeling that, in general, politicians are fed up with talking about the Holocaust, or when they do, they appropriate it for a narrow political agenda,” Senderowicz said. “We can see and feel that the true lessons of the Holocaust are being forgotten because Jews are not receiving the necessary protection, partly because they are perceived as powerful and oppressive. We want to change this perception by ensuring the next generation learns the truth about the Holocaust, and its lessons which remain relevant as antisemitism is reaching the highest levels since the end of the Second World War.”

Portugal was officially neutral in World War II but did manage to repatriate scores of Portuguese Jews from across Nazi-occupied Europe and several Portuguese diplomats, at great risk, issued thousands of travel visas to Jews to reach the United States.