The movie “1506 – The Lisbon Genocide” shows a massacre against the Jews that has been forgotten. 19th April is the anniversary of the start of the massacre which for three days assassinated about three thousand Jews in Lisbon. The bonfires went as high as the houses, in a city filled with quartered bodies where heads were paraded on the points of spears.
The documentary film was made as short as possible, about 20 minutes long, so that it may be seen by everyone of all ages, even those who prefer not to watch long movies. Research was carried out by the Community’s historical research centre and reviewed by the holder of the Alberto Benveniste Chair of Sephardic Studies of the University of Lisbon.
Identifying and combating antisemitism
Regarding the story of the 2,000 children, the director of the Porto Jewish Museum, Michael Rothwell, said, “This dark episode demonstrates the depths that many went to in order to try and defeat and destroy our people."
“We are once again living in a dark time when the Jewish people are under attack around the world. That is why education is so important, especially targeting young schoolchildren. They must be taught tolerance and acceptance and how to identify and combat antisemitism,” he added.
President of the Porto Jewish community, Gabriel Senderowicz, stated, “Today, children react more to visual media, so it is vital to create tools that depict with historical accuracy the pain and suffering Jews went through in the past so they can recognize it in the present."
Addressing the October 7 massacre, Senderowicz noted, "It is important to show the context of current antisemitism as a continuation of what has gone before. Sadly, there is nothing new under the sun, and even today, Jewish children were hunted and kidnapped as we saw in the south of Israel on October 7.”
