The history of Jews in Portugal continues to be told by the Jewish Community of Oporto. In partnership with the Hispanic Jewish Foundation, the Community is preparing to present worldwide the most impactful film ever produced in Portugal.
The events referred to in the film occurred in 1493, when about 2000 Jewish children up to the age of eight were torn from the arms of their parents, converted to Catholicism, and sent by boat to the island of São Tomé, 7500 km away.
The parents of these children, who had arrived in Portugal in the previous year after the expulsion from Spain, had been unable to satisfy the king's desire to make hospitality profitable. Dressed in coarse cloth, like slaves, the docile children embarked together with other slaves and criminals who were given a chance of survival.
"This film brings to light one of the most devastating moments in Jewish history when our people were kidnapped by enemies, and many never made it home," explained David Hatchwell Altaras, president of the Fundacion HispanoJudia in Madrid.
The children who survived the voyage were thrown into a human experiment. The island was a place unfit for colonization, due to the poisonous vapors, unhealthiness, absence of civilization, intensity of the heat, high fevers, and danger from the animals that inhabited it.
Chroniclers claim that a few months after the arrival of the ships, only 600 children remained alive. They were fruitful, multiplied, and the island became rich in sugar, wines, meat and cheeses.
In the following centuries, São Tomé had a strong presence of Jewish businessmen in the inter-continental trade and plantation owners involved in the exportation of the sugar cane and the sugar industry to Brazil, a country where many of the descendants of those exiled Jewish children are supposed to have emigrated.
The film will have its world premiere in April or May and is dedicated to the families of the hostages who lie dying in the Gaza tunnels. “Sadly, we are witnessing a tragic repetition of history as the global Jewish community once again finds itself rallying for our kidnapped people. We hope this film, dedicated to the ongoing efforts to free our captives, highlights the importance of understanding our history to better navigate current events", said David Hatchwell Altaras.
