The march of the world

Portuguese emigration 1960-1974: fleeing misery, dictatorship and colonial wars

Audio 48:30

Arrival of Portuguese immigrants at Austerlitz station (in Paris) with the whole house on their backs (1965).

© Gerald Bloncourt

By: Véronique Gaymard Follow

2 mins

Between 1957 and 1974, Portugal was emptied of its inhabitants: more than a million and a half of them emigrated to flee poverty, the Salazar dictatorship and the colonial wars from 1961. Several hundred thousand of them they leave for France, in search of a better life.

First in the early 1960s, “a salto”, literally by making the jump, in a clandestine way.

They arrive without papers and come to swell the muddy slums where the cheap labor of the Trente Glorieuses is piled up. 

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The director José Vieira tells their stories of a life of hard work and sacrifice, through numerous documentaries, the latest of which, " 

 ", draws a parallel between the emigration that he himself experienced with his parents, and that of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans who cross the borders towards Europe, also in suffering and in search of a future.

1969, slum in St Denis, Paris region, young Portuguese immigrant.

© Gerald Bloncourt

Participants:

- José Vieira

, director of numerous documentaries on migrations, and testimonies taken from his documentaries:

 and “ 

 ” (2001);

" 

 " (2021).

⇒

- Victor Pereira

, historian, currently at the Institute of Contemporary History of the University of Lisbon

- Hugo Dos Santos

, director and member of the association Mémoires Vives / Memorias Vivas (Excerpt from his documentary " 

 ")

- Fernando Cardoso and Antonio Barbosa Topa

, exiled deserters from the Portuguese colonial wars, who testify in the book " 

 ", published by Chandeigne editions (February 2022)

- Isabelle Ferreira

, artist, exhibits at the Galerie Maubert in Paris her works from "

 ", entitled " 

 ".

INA Archives.

(Replay).

Fernando Cardoso, Antonio Barbosa Topa, Vasco Martins, deserters from the Portuguese colonial wars and exiled in France, testify in the book "Exils" which has just been published by Chandeigne (February 2022).

© Véronique Gaymard/RFI

“Exils” has just been published in French, by Chandeigne editions.

© Editions Chandeigne

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