Fernando Curado
Yesterday at 4:28 pm ·
FIGUEIRA DA FOZ - ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE RECEPTION OF REFUGEES FROM THE 2nd GREAT WAR
Today, June 20, World Refugee Day, we recall the importance of Figueira da Foz in welcoming refugees from the Second World War (1939-1945) and the Civil War in Spain (1936-1939).
In 1940, on St. John's Day, the first refugees arrived in Figueira da Foz. The newspaper O Figueirense, of 26 June, reported that the group consisted of 85 exiles, of various nationalities, arrived by train from Vilar Formoso , along the Beira Alta line, having been distributed to hotels and pensions, and some rented houses.
At the beginning of July of the same year, another 600 refugees arrived in Figueira da Foz. They were received at the CP station by a delegation made up of the vice-consul of France, in Figueira, members of the Municipal Tourism Commission and of the French colony and many others people.
Many of the refugees were intellectuals, artists, writers, musicians and sculptors, other merchants, some jewelers and some very rich.
There were also children, who quickly enrolled in schools in Figueirense, mainly in the Academia Figueirense, as was the case of Edith Liliane Schwarz, whose family also received a visa from Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
The refugees quickly integrated into the community of Figueres, which, in turn, received them with the greatest affection. They had free movies, restaurant menus were written in their languages, and the Grand Peninsular Casino allowed them free entry to their matinees.
Here took refuge the Jew Eugen Tillinger, well-known Czech journalist, contributor to Paris-Soir and other newspapers, and the pianist couple Colette Gaveau and Witold Malcuzynski, all helped by our consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes who, disobeying Salazar's express orders , issued entry visas to Portugal to thousands of refugees, including Jews.
Witold Malcuzynski, just arrived from Poland, a brilliant pianist, immediately performed at the Peninsular Casino on July 17, 1940.
When World War II started, Malcuzynski was in France. After the capitulation of France, Malcuzynski fled to Portugal, with his wife Colette Gaveau, where he met conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg, who offered him a tour of South America. Małcużyński went to Argentina in October 1940 and in April 1942 he moved up to the United States.
After World War II, the couple Colette Gaveau and Witold Malcuzynski moved to Switzerland. He would return to Figueira da Foz, to the Peninsular Casino, as a sign of “thanks for the attention and affection that surrounded him and his compatriots at an uncertain time of their own. stocks”.
Many other artists were exiled in Figueira da Foz, such as Marcel Dalio, French film actor, Gisele Quittner Allatini, French writer who gave several conferences at the Casino and wrote in the local press, Ivan Sors, Czech painter, represented at the Santos Rocha Municipal Museum, who is the central character of the literary work “The painter under the sink” by writer Afonso Cruz from Figueire.
In Afonso Cruz's book, Sors lived in the house of photographer Afonso Cruz, the writer's grandfather, from Figueire, sleeping in a corner of the house. “Under the sink was a relatively large space, which extended under the stove. That's when a mattress was spread and that's when Sors went to sleep, hiding behind the firewood, afraid that the PVDE agents would show up in the middle of the night”.
In reality it had happened that way, the late photographer Afonso Cruz, arrested three times during the Estado Novo, hid in his house Ivan Sors, the Czech painter who was a refugee in Figueira da Foz.
With the refugees, Figueira da Foz acquires a new life in winter, felt above all in the Bairro Novo cafes, which now have permanent customers throughout the year.
“Through the streets of the city, in the gardens, in the avenues, in the cafes, on the banks, there is a constant vibration of foreign languages, Polish, Belgian, Czech, Dutch and French, of both sexes, which give a note of cosmopolitanism to this city”, reads in Figueirense of 9 July 1940.
The presence of refugees, some with a prominent intellectual category, alters the routine of Figueirense, moves its conservatism, encourages new habits and demands the learning of new languages.
Local newspapers suggest visits to Figueira da Foz, “to make contact with the civilization of the 20th century”, “because you will have the opportunity to see ladies with pants and without them, and smoking like any tax guard, vigilant on the banks of the rivers or coasts”, advises O Figueirense of 20 July 1940.
In addition to pianist Witold Malcuzynski, other refugees were also excellent musicians, working in the various cafes and restaurants of Bairro Novo.
At Café Nicola, the “Orquestra Ginasio Jazz” was played with violinist David Teller, a Russian refugee, pianist Engleman Malanzer, also exiled, and trumpeter Joaquim Machado.
The “Orquestra Portuguesa”, from Porto, performed at the Café Espanhol, and at the exquisite “Casino Oceano” dinner was served to the sound of an orchestra and other varieties.
At the seafood restaurant “Lagosta Vermelha”, “one of the most luxurious and frequented in Figueira”, classic Spanish ballets were exhibited.
The wealthier refugees, with habits of “casinar”, as they used to say, played games of chance, particularly roulette, contributing to the Casino's profits.
But the intense social life of the refugees was supervised by the regime's political police, called PVDE - State Surveillance and Defense Police from 1933 to 1945, whose International Section was responsible for checking the entry, stay and exit of foreigners from the national territory and his detention if it were undesirable elements.
In the absence of the PVDE in Figueira, the inspection of refugees was the responsibility of the municipal officials to whom it belonged to inform about the eventual political activity of the refugees.
Refugees were prohibited from “making use of cameras, as well as painting or drawing means, trying to fix points that could be considered of strategic interest in our maritime zone or land border”.
And the owners of establishments where foreigners stayed were required, within 48 hours, to communicate their presence, even if it was a single overnight stay, under penalty of payment of a fine.
“In order to intensify the inspection of the addresses of foreigners”, at the beginning of each week, the list of all foreigners staying in hotels, pensions or guest houses should be sent.
Likewise, visits by foreigners to refugees living in Figueira should be immediately reported by the owner of the residence, under penalty of fine.
Refugees were prohibited from leaving for locations more than 3 km from Figueira da Foz, although some departures took place, including a wedding party in Curia, as Luís Cajão told us.
Luís Cajão, at the time a 20-year-old boy, born in Santa Luzia de Lavos on May 20, 1920, member of the “Reception Committee for Refugees from Figueira da Foz”, presents in his book “As torrentes da Memória. Stories and inconfidences of the old arch”, many episodes that occurred with the refugees and shows her enchantment with the beauty of the Polish woman Irene Kisterowna who “eat hake with sugar syrup” and confided in her that the most beautiful name she knew in Portuguese it was “alguidar”, which would be the name of his first child.
The majority of World War II refugees were received with “flagrant proof of affection and sympathy so that they would not feel their misfortune so much”, as happened from 1936 to 1939, during the civil war in Spain, but it is fair to emphasize the role of the owners of Casa Havanesa, the Santos Alves brothers, who were honored by the Belgian and British governments for their achievements in favor of freedom.
José dos Santos Alves, vice-consul of Belgium, and Mário dos Santos Alves, vice-consul of England, not only performed their diplomatic role well, but also helped all refugees who sought them, welcoming them to their homes and requesting support financial resources for the most disadvantaged.
Casa Havanesa became an obligatory meeting point for refugees and many of them sent their mail here.
At Casa Havanesa, and within the Santos Alves family, the refugees from the 2nd World War found comfort, friendship and a lot of help, and, after the war, many returned to their countries, having maintained contact and friendship with the Santos Alves family for a long time. years old.
The hospitality of Figueires was recognized by the refugees, with letters of thanks sent to Oliveira Salazar and the mayor of the municipality Dr. Rui Manuel Nogueira Ramos being deposited in the municipal historical archive, expressing the “warm welcome” and “sympathy of the local population and city officials”.
