Selectivity of memories of WWII in portugal: the role of leisure, education, the arts and the media

• Autor(a) principal: Sol, Hermínia
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: de Brito, Marisa P.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/38212
• topic: Holocausto; narrativas do pós-guerra; excecionalismo português; refugiados; mitologias nacionais; lazer; indústria do entretenimento; sítios memoriais; post-war narratives; refugees; Portuguesese exceptionalism; national mythologies; memorial sites; leisure; entertainment industry; Holocaust

Even though more than seventy-five years have passed since the end of WWII, its prominence in entertainment media productions along with the global emergence of memorial markers have contributed to its omnipresence in people’s minds. Nevertheless, the perception of this historical event is still far from reaching consensus as nations tend to interpret and remember episodes in accordance with their perspective, thus adding up to the complexity of WWII and of Holocaust memories. With this in mind, this article describes the idiosyncrasies of Portugal’s recent tribute and remembrance strategies for the victims of WWII. The country’s neutral status, along with a set of cultural and historical specifics, has led to the dissemination of tropes leading to the idea of Portugal as an inherently tolerant and mild-mannered nation. A perception that is often fostered by resorting to monuments, museums, tourism and leisure activities. Despite evidence provided, mostly, by recent academic studies and documentary films, these tropes continue to fuel Portuguese popular imagination and are still prevalent in some recently established WWII memory places.