The Pathetic "Port Memorial" in Porto

When I in a couple of articles in Danish Journal Rambam introduced the German Stolpersteine Project to Denmark, and even obtained permission, on behalf of the Danish Jewish Historical Society, for them to placed in the streets of Copenhagen, I didn´t visualize the range of misuse it would, and could be subjected to. Good ideas can go bad.

Nowadays, Stolpersteine are unfortunately in few cases placed in memory of people who caused the death of their fellow Human beings.

However, the most disgusting "version" of the memorial concept by artist Gunter Demnig, which I have seen, I came across outside a branch of the Museums of Porto (Museu do Porto/ Extensao do Duoro - Formerly known as the Port Wine Museum. Right in front of Rua da Reboleira 33-37, objects identical to the Stumbling Stones of Demnig are misused as some kind of an advertisement for Port wine-houses.

Photo: Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson

Running into the copy-cat installations outside one of the annexes of the Museu do Porto was the only bad experience on our last week Portugal visit. Yes, genuine Jew hatred is still a problem in Portugal, where Hamas-support is manifested in the former Jewish areas of Porto. Obviously it didn´t stop with the Inquisition. The copy-cat stumbling-stones in Rua da Reboleira are a disgrace to the present directors of the City Museums of Porto.

The "Port" Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones) of the Museum Authorities of Porto in Rua da Reboleira is a cheap tourist trick reeking from the stench of anti-Semitism. The old hate-plague is still a problem when some citizens of Porto rally in support of Hamas - a rally going through the former Jewish areas of Porto. For Instance, a demonstration for affordable housing in Porto turned into a hate-fest for local Antisemites. Among the many demonstrators, who rallied for better student-housing in Porto, were those carrying antisemitic signs calling for "cleansing the world of Jews," "not to rent a house from Zionist murderers," "We want a home to live in and Palestine is liberated," and "Not Haifa and not Boavista, no to a Zionist capital!".

Also a June 2024 visit of EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen to Porto turned into a anti-Jewish / Hate Israel manifest.

However, if you happen to be a tourist in the beautiful city of Porto - and want to have a great walk through the Jewish history of Porto and all the possible remains of the areas, where Jews ones recided, I can warmly recommend Ricardo, a student of History at the University of Porto as your guide. His three hour walking tour, which you can join on the Internet, was one of the best of its kind I have ever been on. Ricardo, who is working on hist Master in the Jewish History of his city at a Porto University, will hopefully one day head a REAL museum for the long and very important history of the Jews of Porto.

Just adjacent to one of the three former Jewish districts in Porto, right below the Cathedral and the Bishop´s Palace of Porto, one finds an ornamented well, headed by an effeigy depicting a mother-Pelican that has cut her breast with her beak to feed her starving chicks with drops of blood. This symbol was originally used in Christian art, but also as a symbol for Jews, who "converted" to Christianity for a while to save their lives. This is the very symbol of the Portuguese Jewish Synagogue in Amsterdam, the Esnoga, also known as the Snoge by the inhabitants of Mokkum (the Yiddish name for Amsterdam). Photo: V.Ö.Vilhjálmsson.

The genuine Stolperstein below can be found in Copenhagen, and has a very special story (only in Danish), which illustrates the difficulties relating to the use of this object of memory. Photo: V.Ö.Vilhjálmsson.