memory with a face, in porto
There have been objects kept in the Sinagoga do Porto since the Second World War. They belonged to refugees who passed through here, who left things behind. The Museu do Holocausto do Porto was born partly out of those documents and objects, and it's run by members of the Comunidade Judaica do Porto whose own relatives were victims: shot, tattooed, subjected to medical experiments, killed at Treblinka, in camps across eastern Europe.
That changes the experience of visiting this place. It's not a museum made at academic distance. One of the community members who oversees it is the son of Chaja Lassmann, a survivor of the experiments by the Auschwitz "Angel of Death". The testimonies you find here have a name, a family, a living continuity in the city you're standing in.
The space walks you through the full arc: Jewish life before the war, Nazism, the ghettos, the concentration and extermination camps, the Death Marches, the liberation, the post-war period, the founding of the State of Israel. There's a reproduction of the Auschwitz dormitories, a room of names, a cinema, and real photographs and films organised along the lines of the Washington museum. The Museu do Holocausto do Porto was set up in coordination with sister museums in Moscow, Hong Kong, the United States and Europe, and it's part of a broader strategy against antisemitism that also includes the Museu Judaico do Porto and the training of educators.
Campo Alegre isn't Porto's tourist core. That's exactly why you come here without the weight of queues and with room to stay.
what you'll find
- a reproduction of the Auschwitz dormitories
- a room of names and a cinema with real documentary footage
- testimonies from survivors with a direct link to the Porto community
- visits for school groups by prior booking
