She successfully spearheaded the campaign to historically rehabilitate her grandfather, Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto. the "Portuguese Dreyfus". Economist by profession, she does not only have the duty to protect the assets of the Jewish community in Porto. Isabel Barros Lopes serves as a central, unifying leader in Porto's Jewish community, which has transformed into one of the most culturally, educationally, and religiously strongest Jewish communities in Europe.
As Vice President of the Jewish Community of Oporto, Lopes acts as a powerful bridge between the painful history of the community and its modern, diverse revival. She led the 2011 movement that pushed the Portuguese Parliament to officially restore her grandfather's honor decades after he was wrongfully dismissed from the army due to antisemitism. In 2022, when the community faced an aggression by Portuguese Power, she became a prominent public voice linking modern state pressure to the historical persecutions faced by her grandfather.
Once a struggling group of just a dozen individuals, the Community has grown significantly and stands today as a major cultural, educational, and religious powerhouse in Europe.
On the way to completing eleven years of uninterrupted minyan, and with two synagogues, the Community established the Holocaust Museum of Porto and the Jewish Museum of Porto. The Holocaust Museum alone has welcomed over 300,000 visitors, including vast numbers of Portuguese school students, making it a premier educational tool against antisemitism in Southern Europe.
They produce highly recognized historical feature films—such as 1618 and 1506, the Lisbon Genocide—which have accumulated international film awards and millions of views. Assets legally designated to the Jewish Agency for Israel if it ever dissolves.
