The documentary entitled “2,000 Kidnapped Jewish Children,” produced by the Jewish Community of Porto and the Hispano-Jewish Foundation of Madrid, continues to cross continents. This time, the film was published on Russia’s leading video-sharing platform and a local equivalent of YouTube. Within its first week of release, the film reached an audience of more than 60,000 viewers — a strong indication of the public’s interest in meaningful historical and educational content.
"We are deeply grateful to the Jewish Community of Porto and the Spanish Jewish Foundation for giving us the opportunity to take part in this important project and for allowing us to contribute to the dissemination of this film.", said a source of the Russian Jewish elite. "This project opened new avenues for international and intercultural cooperation, demonstrating how collaboration between Jewish communities, youth movements, and educational initiatives can help bring significant historical narratives to new audiences across linguistic and cultural boundaries."
"The 2000 Jewish Kidnapped Children" is not just a film. It is a historical document that records with high and moving rigor a cruel, tragic and practically unknown episode. It tells how two thousand, Jewish children, aged up to eight years, were torn from the hands of their parents without the slightest mercy. They were forcibly baptized in 1493 in Portugal, by order of the Portuguese king John II and deported to the island of São Tomé, 7,500 kilometers away. It had a hostile climate and was infested with crocodiles. Many of the children were eaten by the animals. Only 600 survived the unsanitary conditions and despite the efforts of Catholic priests, the few surviving children remained faithful to the religion of their parents. Two hundred years after the kidnapping, the Catholic bishop of São Tomé, Pedro da Cunha Lobo, continued to complain that the island of São Tomé had a Jewish problem. The film also conveys the continuity of the Jewish people, despite the attempts at genocide.
The GOTOV platform, in partnership with students from the Jewish youth movement Yahad, has completed the translation and full Russian-language voiceover of the documentary. This initiative represented a thoughtful and deliberate effort to make an important historical testimony accessible to a wider audience, particularly to Russian-speaking viewers who may not otherwise encounter this story. Through this work, the project contributes to the dissemination of reliable, well-documented information about Jewish history and brings renewed attention to one of its lesser-known yet deeply tragic chapters.
The Jewish Community of Porto and the Hispanic Jewish Foundation have created an important and unfortunately very current document. The children kidnapped and killed centuries ago and the children who took the same fate in 2023, show the importance of this production which serves as a powerful reminder of the value of every human life and the moral responsibility to preserve the memory of historical injustices and tragedies. By presenting these events in a clear and accessible format, the project helps foster historical awareness, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the consequences of intolerance and persecution.
Gabriel Sendrowicz and David Hatchwell Altaras, the presidents of the Jewish community of Porto and of the Hispano Jewish Foundation say their goal is to make the documentary reach all continents and have it translated into every possible language.
"The Baal Shem Tov said: 'Forgetfulness leads to exile, and memory is the secret of redemption.' We must remember what happened and honor those who could not survive as a lesson to those of us present today. We must always be strong and be masters of our destiny, declares David Hatchwell Altaras.
