Wartime Rescuers Inspire Music-Filled November Showcase in Porto

Porto is preparing to swap its usual late-autumn drizzle for a burst of moral sunlight. In mid-November the city will unveil an immersive programme that fuses an exhibition about wartime heroism with klezmer music, dance and classroom initiatives—all designed to ask residents and newcomers alike how far they would go for someone they barely know.

A landmark near São Bento takes on new role

Walking past the historic Clube Fenianos—the social club whose granite façade sits just uphill from São Bento station—you would never guess it is about to host an international conversation on conscience. Yet on the opening night on 20 November, the ballroom will transform into “The Righteous,” a bilingual exhibition produced under the banner of Projecto Música no Porto. Curators say the aim is simple: weave Holocaust remembrance into everyday life through interfaith dialogue and the city’s winter cultural calendar. The building’s high ceilings will frame a labyrinth of panels, each printed in English and Portuguese, so visitors who have only mastered their first obrigado can move through the show without a guide.

Stories that cross borders and beliefs

Inside, the spotlight shifts from dates and troop movements to the people who quietly sabotaged genocide. One station dives into the saga of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul who defied Salazar to issue transit visas. Another explores Noor Inayat Khan, a Sufi-trained radio operator who fed intelligence to the French Resistance before being executed at Dachau. Their vignettes sit beside accounts of Greek fishermen, Moroccan tradesmen and Balkan priests who smuggled families across borders. Curators insist that courage travelled on forged passports, not along national lines. Video interviews with descendants carry English captions, while archival letters—some singed at the edges—underscore the personal cost of compassion.

Music that survived the camps

When the last panel has been read, the mood shifts from reflection to celebration. The UK ensemble Taybelekh takes the stage for a string of concerts that stitch together Yiddish lullabies, Romanian horas, and Moldovan freylekhs. Between tracks, musicians invite the crowd onto the parquet for guided klezmer circle dances, a first for Porto. Organisers believe the contrast matters: by pairing minor-key clarinet riffs with the stories of those who saved Jewish lives, they seek to show that the cultures Hitler tried to erase remain vibrantly alive. Lyrics appear in Portuguese and English on side screens, and band members pause often to explain the back-story behind each melody, making sure non-Portuguese speakers never feel lost.

What expats should know before going

Practicalities come first. Tickets go on sale 1 September through the exhibition’s portal and selected Fnac counters. Prices are expected to mirror museum entry fees—think the ballpark of €10, with concessions for students and over-65s. Wheelchair ramps installed during last year’s renovations remain in place, and the Aliados metro stop is around the corner. November evenings can be damp and chilly, so pack a light waterproof jacket if you plan to join the outdoor dance workshops scheduled for late afternoons on the club’s terrace. The organisers recommend arriving 15 minutes early; security checks were tightened after recent antisemitic graffiti incidents elsewhere in Europe, and luggage storage is limited.

Portugal’s own chapter of courage

Many foreigners file Portugal’s WWII history under “neutral,” but that label hides nuance. Only three Portuguese citizens are recognised by Yad Vashem: Sousa Mendes, diplomat Carlos Sampaio Garrido and Father Joaquim Carreira. Historians at the University of Porto argue the tally is low because the dictatorial Estado Novo kept records sealed for decades. New scholarship on smugglers in Trás-os-Montes may push the number higher. Meanwhile, Sousa Mendes’ 2021 elevation to the National Pantheon signalled a shift in public memory, hinting that the small Atlantic nation is ready to examine its own shadows as well as its triumphs.

Learning ripple effect

The exhibition refuses to end at the exit door. Its website, therighteous.info, offers lesson plans aligned with the Portuguese curriculum, downloadable in five languages. Local international schools have already booked group slots, while the Holocaust Museum of Porto is planning teacher seminars on trauma-informed pedagogy. Interfaith councils—ranging from the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue to the Central Mosque in Matosinhos—will host round-tables on what solidarity looks like in 2025. For newcomers hunting for ways to plug into civic life, those sessions provide an easy on-ramp. As one curator put it, the real exhibition begins when visitors walk back onto Rua dos Fenianos and decide what kind of neighbours they want to be.