As support for far-right groups grows across Europe, Portugal is on the home stretch towards the opening its first museum on the country’s fascist past.
The Museum of Resistance and Liberty in Peniche Fortress will open in April 45 years after the site officially closed as a notorious political prison where scores of anti-fascist activists were beaten, tortured and some even killed.
The purpose, says those behind its 3.4 million makeover, is to ensure the memories of its ageing survivors “do not die with them”.
One of these, Domingos Abrantes, is now 82 and has been explaining to Reuters that “the best way to respect the memory of those who sacrificed themselves is to make sure fascism doesn’t ever return”.
Standing in the very cell where he spent up to 23 hours a day during the Salazar era, he said: “The far right is growing in Europe, so it is now more important than ever to tell younger generations about it”.
But, surprisingly, too many youngsters today are barely aware of what happened to this generation still living among them.
Historian Irene Pimentel told Reuters that the national school curriculum has consistently paid “too little attention” to the human rights abuses of the Salazar dictatorship.
It is as if governments have intentionally set out to “eradicate memories of Portugal’s fascist past”.
An example is the fact that some sites, including the former HQ of Salazar’s hardline secret police (known as PIDE) “have been transformed into luxury flats or hotels”.
Bit by bit, however, the grandchildren of those still alive to tell their tales “are becoming interested in what happened”, she stressed – and thus the opening of this miserable chunk of rock sets out to answer many of their questions.
Concludes Reuters, Peniche fortress is not the only initiative trying to keep memories alive: in May this year a fortress used by Salazar as a holiday residence was turned into an artistic hub
“Filmmakers and theater producers are also starting to bring untold stories about the regime to Portugal’s stages and big screen”, says the news service, stressing the message of Paula Silva, director of Cultural Heritage which will manage the museum: “Freedom is a human right but it can vanish”.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
