Presentation of R&D projects “Portugal and the Holocaust: research and memory”

The FCT, in collaboration with the national program "Never Forget," will host a presentation session for the six research and development (R&D) projects selected under the special support program "Portugal and the Holocaust: Research and Memory." The session will take place on November 25, at the Galveias Palace in Lisbon, starting at 2:00 p.m., and is part of the national commitment to promoting education, memory, and research on the subject. Admission to the event requires prior registration, and the programis now available. The event will be broadcast online.

These six projects were approved for funding earlier this year, as part of a program launched in 2020, a year in which several anniversaries related to the Holocaust and the defense of human rights in Portugal were celebrated, including the seventy-fifth anniversary of the country's entry into the United Nations and the eightieth anniversary of the rescue of thousands of Jews by Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes. In this context, this special support from the FCT was intended to fund research and development projects focusing on the intertwining of Portuguese history with various aspects of this tragic period. The choice of projects sought to value interdisciplinarity and the production of various types of results, from scientific publications to educational resources, in order to reinforce the presence of this theme on the national scientific agenda and, at the same time, contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust. The winners received funding in the range of €31,000 to €34,000, translating into a total of €200,000 for this support.

During the presentation session, the projects will be divided into two panels, depending on their area of intervention. The first brings together projects focused on the production and provision of educational resources, while the second focuses on documentary and archival research projects. The session will also feature speeches by the President and Vice-President of the FCT Governing Board, Helena Pereira and José Paulo Esperança, the commissioner of the national program "Nunca Esquecer" (Never Forget), Marta Santos Pais, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias.

In addition to presentations by researchers and leaders from the institutions participating in the projects, a brochure published by FCT will be distributed during the session. It brings together the work and intervention proposals for each project, identifying the participating national and international institutions.