Overview
Portugal was a neutral country during World War II (WWII). The government extended favorable trade terms to Great Britain, with which it had a centuries-old treaty, but continued supplying goods and tungsten – an essential material for the arms industry – to Nazi Germany until mid-1944. The Nazis paid with gold bullion looted from countries they had conquered and, it is suspected, from victims of the Holocaust. An estimated 40,000 Jews passed through Portugal between 1940 and 1941 fleeing Nazi persecution. Portuguese diplomats in certain European posts, including Aristides de Sousa Mendes, facilitated their escape – often in violation of official policy. There are approximately 3,000 to 4,000 Jews in Portugal today.