The multipurpose room of the Municipal Library of Lagoa will host the presentation of the book «A Portuguese Jew in Istanbul», by Pedro Cantinho Pereira, on February 29th, at 18pm, with free entry.
The presentation will be given by Luís Encarnação, president of Lagoa City Council.
«A Portuguese Jew in Istanbul» tells the romanticized life story of Jacques Joseph Abravanel, a Portuguese Sephardic Jew, born in Thessaloniki in 1906 and died in Istanbul in 1993, where he was honorary consul of Portugal, from 1934 until his death.
Through the story of Jacques Joseph Abravanel, presumed descendant of the great theologian, financier and statesman D. Isaac Abravanel, several questions emerged, such as: the history of Sephardic Jews within the Ottoman Empire, links to Portugal, the importance of Turkey in flight of Jewish refugees during the Second World War, the attempted extermination of the Jewish people in Europe, the Jewish remnants in the post-war period, the Eichmann Process, the relationship with Israel, the issue of ethical dilemmas, as well as the role of man in the face of to the challenges of history and existence.
Pedro Cantinho Pereira was born in Lisbon, in 1955. He left for France, in September 1975, where he worked as a Portuguese teacher and studied at the University of Strasbourg, having obtained a master's degree in History of European Integration, from the Instituto dos Altos European Studies.
Between 1989 and 1993, he worked at the General Coordination of Portuguese Teaching in France, at the Embassy of Portugal in Paris. He returned to Portugal to work as a secondary school teacher in the Algarve.
In 2002, he received a doctorate in History from the University of Paris 1 with equivalence granted by ISCTE, and then began his career as a university professor.
Currently, he works as professor and director of the Library at Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes – Ensino Lusófona (Portimão).
He is the author of books and articles in his area of expertise, namely: Portugal and the Beginning of European Construction, 1947-1953; The Shadow of War; The Story of Paul Freundlinch; Un «Malgré Nous» dans l'engrenage nazi; Les sacrifices de l'Histoire.
He is finishing the book “From Budapest to Eretz Yisrael (1944 – 1948)”.
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