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trying to rejoin their units, made their way by train or car through Spain to
Portugal, with the great majority eventually reaching the Portuguese border at Vilar Formoso. Sousa Mendes was later expelled from the foreign service for his actions, although he was allowed to retain his salary until his
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The memorial to the work of Sousa Mendes and the role of the people of
Portugal in receiving the refugees takes the form of a museum built into two former warehouses at the Vilar Formoso railway station, which is of itself of considerable interest because of its
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This section shows the arrival of refugees by car and train, mainly in the last two weeks of June 1940. It discusses the assistance provided by the people of the town. Testimonies by refugees about the friendliness of the people of Vilar
Formoso are provided.
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The exhibition presents, in a chronological sequence from 1933 to 1940, the most important events that forced thousands of people to flee into the unknown as the result of the persecution of Jews, the
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Few refugees intended to stay in
Portugal, with most hoping to make it to the United States or South America. The exhibition describes the efforts to obtain visas and tickets.
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tile decorations. It was officially opened on 26 August 2017 by the
Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The exhibition has six sections, or cores, called as follows:
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regime, which remained neutral during the war but had no desire to upset the
Germans, and continued to issue an undetermined number of visas in Bordeaux, moving to
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This first section presents the experience of those who were "people like us" and who saw their lives turned upside down, with the rise to power of
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Among the refugees who were in
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death in 1954. For a long time his role was largely forgotten in
Portugal but in October 1966 he was recognized by
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after
Bordeaux was bombed. With these visas, the fleeing Jews and others, such as soldiers or airmen of the
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This section aims to convey the harsh conditions of the trip that the refugees made; the queues outside
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Seeking to escape from advancing German troops, many Jews, from France and elsewhere, made their way to
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being overcrowded, the majority of refugees were sent to other cities, such as
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and others. The shape of the exhibition space is symbolically related to the
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refugees and others from France and elsewhere who were escaping
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536:7 February
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409:References
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114:Historian
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