On October 5, 1910, as the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown, the young military officer Barros Basto participated directly in the historic events in Porto by personally hoisting the new flag at the municipal building (Câmara Municipal do Porto). Basto went on to become a decorated hero of World War I and the prominent founder of the modern Jewish community in Porto.
Following the revolution, the new regime enacted a strict separation of Church and State. This effectively abolished Catholicism as the state religion and granted Jews full emancipation as equal citizens. In 1923, the young republic officially recognized the Jewish Community of Porto (Comunidade Israelita do Porto), giving them legal status to maintain places of worship, cemeteries, and community registries for the very first time since the Inquisition.
In the meantime, Captain Barros Basto had converted to Judaism in December 1920 and served as the community's first president. He established contacts with the global Sephardic diaspora, raising funds from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London, the Rothschild and Kadoorie families, and many others.
Modern political shifts toward republicanism in the 20th century were driven by contemporary European political philosophies, not by ancient biblical governance models. In 1910, Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto was 22 years old, turning 23 at the very end of the year. His philosophy was taking its first steps.
Two factors combined to make Barros Basto's joy in raising the republic's flag perhaps excessive. Portugal had been a monarchy for nearly 800 years prior to 1910. On the other hand, when tracking the chronological timeline from the rise of Saul (c. 1047 BCE) to the end of the Babylonian Exilarchate (1040 CE), the Jewish people maintained an unbroken thread of royal, Davidic-anchored aristocratic governance spanning 2,087 years—or just under 21 full centuries
In addition, Portugal was a major global empire in the time of the Jews. The expulsion and forced conversion of the Jews happened during the late medieval period. It was the liberal, constitutional era that formally dismantled the anti-Semitic infrastructure and welcomed Jewish communities back.
In 1820, with the new constitution establishing broader civil liberties, Portugal actively invited and permitted Jews to return. Sephardic Jewish traders primarily from Gibraltar and Morocco migrated back, establishing the first Jewish communities in Porto, Lisbon, Faro, Azores and Madeira.
The "Portuguese Dreyfus Affair," which took place between 1934 and 1937, destroyed the captain's efforts—and led to the effective demise of the community he led, which only revived in the 21st century.
