Portugal’s new Head of Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) will visit the Holocaust museum this month, at a scheduled date and time. Maria de Fátima Velez de Andrade Mendes works alongside Helena Pinto Janeiro, who serves as the Deputy Head of Delegation.
The Holocaust museum in Porto practically has a monopoly on teaching this topic in the country. The city also achieved a major domestic milestone when Fernando Pessoa University in Porto became the very first university in the country to formally adopt the IHRA's Working Definition of Antisemitism.
Since taking over the role, Andrade Mendes has focused heavily on institutional continuity, academic networking, and expanding local integration of IHRA standards. She continues to align Portugal's international diplomatic voice with global efforts to combat antisemitism and protect Holocaust records, cooperating closely with newly appointed domestic bodies like Portugal's National Coordinator for the European Strategy to Combat Antisemitism.
Andrade Mendes plans to deepen Portugal's role within the alliance, actively driving Portugal's commitment to global guidelines, focusing on combating rising contemporary antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and digital distortion, and solidifying relationships between the government and the Porto Holocaust Museum.
The Holocaust Museum of Porto stands out in Europe. It is the only one managed by a Jewish community. It is the only on the Iberian Peninsula and preserves rare historical files of World War II refugees. The museum displays 400 individual personal files and transit documents. These files track Jewish refugees who fled to Porto in 1940 and 1941 to escape Nazi-occupied Europe through a neutral country.
Visitors walk through corridors detailing the complete narrative of the tragedy. The exhibits include an authentic reproduction of an Auschwitz concentration camp dormitory and a memorial room inscribed with the names of victims.
Established by the Jewish Community of Porto in partnership with the Holocaust museums in Jerusalem, Washington, Moscow and Hong Kong, it focuses heavily on school visits and teacher training to combat modern antisemitism.
