Dear Members of the LUSA Agency,
Greetings.
1. The event on Kristallnacht that we communicated to you last Thursday, November 9, 2023, as we have communicated to others, has received attention from the Jerusalem Post (https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-772711) and many other foreign media (see https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/hundreds-of-schoolchildren-from-portugal-commemorate-kristallnacht/).
2. The Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) event held last April attracted interest from the European Jewish Press (https://ejpress.org/thousands-of-children-from-across-portugal-visit-holocaust-museum-on-yom-hashoah/) and other organs (see https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370127).
3. The event of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust on 27 January attracted interest from the Jerusalem Post (https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-729847) and others (see https://ejpress.org/international-holocaust-remembrance-day-commemorated-in-oporto-portugal-with-1000-school-children/).
4. Similar comments can be made regarding gatherings in 2022 of 1500 adolescents, which drew the attention of the international press (e.g. https://www.thejc.com/news/news/1-500-teenagers-visit-porto's-holocaust-museum-on-anniversary-of-kristallnacht-6FcYi2h2UutoQAPHvBCHzg) and that were worthy of recording on film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkwe05c6fk).
5. The absence of attention from LUSA regarding the activities and commemorations in our museum "is not a reason for protest on our part", as our members who oversee the museum and whose families were so cruelly torn apart in that genocide always point out. "The important thing,” they say, “is that the schools are here and that the highest representatives of the embassies of Israel, the United States, France, England, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Poland and many other countries have already signed the attendance book of the Holocaust Museum of Porto".
6. Despite what was said in the previous point, LUSA's lack of interest in the only Holocaust museum in the world that has managed, in just over two years, to welcome 10% of the adolescent population of a country, is not acceptable.
7. We note that in Portugal, apart from our museum, there is little else in terms of effective education about the Holocaust.
Shalom.
Gabriel Senderowicz
President of the Jewish Community of Porto
On behalf of the Board of Directors and with knowledge of the Director of the Museum, Prof. Dr. Michael Rothwell.
P.S. In future we will make a similar statement regarding the Jewish Museum of Porto and the films about the history of the Jews in Portugal, including:
- ‘1618’ one of the most internationally celebrated Portuguese films of all time,
- ‘Sefarad’, which tells the story of the ‘Portuguese Dreyfus’ and founder of the Community
- ‘1506’ which will be released in December, 2023.
MJP
- https://portuguesejewishnews.com/news/the-jewish-museum-of-oporto-welcomed-500-teenagers-on-the-national-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-the-inquisition/
- https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/01/20/oporto-jewish-museum-to-inaugurate-antisemite-room/
- https://ejpress.org/jewish-museum-of-oporto-portugal-features-permanent-exhibition-dedicated-to-operation-yonatan-the-entebbe-hostage-rescue-in-july-1976/
‘1506’
- https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-711683
‘Sepharad’
To relax
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNoAQg3NMZs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoKcywWB27s&t
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4yeSLeOnds
