Without the Past: Portugal

The first Jews are said to have arrived in Portugal with the trading expeditions of King Solomon. Isaac Bitton, a descendant of the "Retournados," the Jews who returned to Portugal after the Great Earthquake of 1755, guides us through the fascinating history of Portuguese Jewry, from its very beginnings through today.

WITHOUT THE PAST
$29.95
The first Jews are said to have arrived in Portugal with the trading expeditions of King Solomon. Isaac Bitton, a descendant of the "Retournados," the Jews who returned to Portugal after the Great Earthquake of 1755, guides us through the fascinating history of Portuguese Jewry, from its very beginnings through today. Among highlights are the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in Faro, in the Southern Agar province, and the moving story of Dr. Aristedes de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, France, during World War II, who issued 30,000 exit visas to Jews attempting to flee the Nazis, and who was removed from the diplomatic corps for his "misdeeds." 24 MIN.