Moisés Bensabat Amzalak

Moisés Bensabat Amzalak (4 October 1892 - 6 June 1978) was a Portuguese scholar and economist. Amzalak was born and educated in Lisbon. He combined a successful business career with broad academic activity. A devoted Jew, a central figure in the Portuguese Jewish Community, he headed the Lisbon Jewish community from 1926 until his death in 1978.[1]

Biography

Amzalak established a solid academic career. He became professor of philosophy and later dean of the Lisbon Institute of Higher Economics and Finance (1933-1944), and was president of the Sciences Academy of Lisbon and deputy rector of the Technical University of Lisbon (1944-1956) and rector from 1956 until his retirement in 1962.[1]

His main interests were economic history, history of economic thought, and marketing. He published extensively in his areas of expertise but also published several works on Judaism. Amzalak received the Honorary Doctorate from several universities, including the University of Bordeaux in 1935[2] and the prestigious Sorbonne, Paris, in 1950.[3][4]

Amazalak was a public figure of great influence. He co-owned the newspaper O Século, then one of the major daily newspapers in Portugal. He was a close friend and a supporter of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar.[5] Avraham Milgram says that Amzalak "holds a place of honor on the consciousness of the Lisbon Jews."[5]

Nazi controversy

In 2007, historian Antonio Louça published a book where he questioned why Amzalak allowed his newspaper to help the Nazi propaganda machine before World War II. In that book Louça also stated that in January 1935, Amzalak hosted the German ambassador, Baron von Hoyningen-Huene, and the latter subsequently recommended to his superiors that Amzalak be awarded the medal of excellence from the German Red Cross, a German civil assistance organization.[6][7] In response, Esther Mucznik, one of the leaders of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, defended Amzalak's reputation. Mucznik pointed out the notable work done by Amzalak during the war and also observed that Amzalak's actions in 1935-37 cannot properly be judged in light of what we know today about the Holocaust.[8]

Yad Vashem Historian Avraham Milgram remarks that, before the war Amzalak, just like Pope Pius XII, regarded Germany as bulwark against communism and that he misread the Nazi regime in respect to the Jews just as Pius XII did.[5] As the war approached, and from 1938 on, Amzalak changed this view and throughout the war, he made a major effort to assist the refugees.

Portuguese researcher Jose Freire Antunes in his book Jews in Portugal, Testimony of Fifty Men and Women credited Amzalak for the expansion of the refugee relief in Lisbon and for the transfer of JDC offices to Lisbon. It was due to the intervention of Augusto d'Esaguy and Amzalak that many of the refugees with visas issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes were allowed to continue on their way to Portugal.[5]

The Portuguese ruler António de Oliveira Salazar held Amzalak in high esteem and that allowed Amzalak to play an important role in getting Salazar's permission to transfer from Paris to Lisbon the main HIAS-HICEM (Jewish relief organization) European Office in June 1940.[9][4] Latter in the war, Amzalak, together with Leite Pinto, General Manager of the Beira Alta Railway, which operated the line from Figueira da Foz to the Spanish frontier, organized several trains that brought refugees from Berlin and other European cities.[10] Amzalak was also able to persuade Salazar to instruct consuls in territories under Nazi occupation to validate all passports held by Jews even though these documents were known to be far from "kosher".[9]

Sources
  • "The Jew with a Nazi Medal."
  • Goldstein, Israel (1984). My World as a Jew: The Memoirs of Israel Goldstein. Associated University Presses. p. 413. ISBN 9780845347805.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lochery, Neill (2011). Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-1945. United States: PublicAffairs; 1 edition. p. 345. ISBN 9781586488796.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Milgram, Avraham (2011). Portugal, Salazar, and the Jews. Yad Vashem. p. 324. ISBN 9789653083875.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • OLIVEIRA, Jaime da Costa. «Fotobiografia de Francisco de Paula Leite Pinto». No centenário do nascimento de Francisco de Paula Leite Pinto, Memória 2, Lisboa, Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, 2003 Testimonial from Professor Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa
  • Pimentel, Irene; Ninhos, Claudia (2013). Salazar, Portugal e o Holocausto (in Portuguese). Lisbon. p. 908. ISBN 9789896442217.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Pimentel, Irene (2006). Judeus em Portugal Durante a II Guerra Mundial (in Portuguese). Lisbon: A Esfera do Livros. ISBN 9789896261054.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Pinto, Jaime Nogueira, «Salazar visto pelos seus próximos», Testimonial from Francisco de Paula Leite Pinto, ISBN 972-25-0567-X, 1993 Bertrand Editora S.A
  • Saraiva, José Hermano (20 July 2012). "Recorde a grande entrevista de José Hermano Saraiva ao SOL (2ª parte)". Sol (in Portuguese). Lisbon. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
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References
  1. Milgram 2011, p. 34.
  2. Malherbe, Marc. La Faculté de Droit de Bordeaux: (1870 - 1970) (in French). Bordeaux: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux. p. 233. ISBN 2867811635. OCLC 35999921.
  3. "Portuguese Jewish Leader Receives Honorary Doctorate of Sorbonne at Paris Ceremonies". JTA - Jewish Telegraphic Agency. December 6, 1950. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  4. Levy, Samuel. "Moses Bensabat Amzalak" (in Portuguese). Israeli Community in Lisbon. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  5. Milgram 2011, p. 35.
  6. LOUÇÃ, ANTÓNIO and PACCAUD, ISABELLE "O Segredo da Rua d'O Século –Ligações Perigosas de Um Dirigente Judeu com a Alemanha Nazi (1935-1939) Lisboa, Fim de Século, 2007, ISBN 9789727542536
  7. Segev, Tom (29 November 2007). "How we missed out on the Swiss option: A last-minute Arab proposal in 1947 / The Portuguese Jew who supported the Nazis / The death of an Austrian Jew 90 years ago". Haaretz. Tel Aviv. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  8. Mucznik, Esther (13 December 2007). "Opinião de Esther Mucznik". VISÃO (in Portuguese). Lisbon. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  9. Goldstein 1984, p. 68.
  10. Pinto p. 122 and Tesimonials from Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa and José Hermano Saraiva
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