Lisbon, May 1945

Abstract

The end of World War II left the Portuguese New State in a rather complex and difficult situation. Though neutral during the war, Salazar’s regime (and above all the country’s elite) could hardly conceal its affinities with several other European dictatorships of the period, the Italian, the Spanish and also the German. The new post-war world order – democratic and anti-authoritarian – posed therefore enormous challenges to the country, both internationally and domestically. The paper deals with the Portuguese official reactions to the Allied victory in Europe and tries to recall the atmosphere that took over Lisbon in the first weeks of May 1945. It pays special attention to the public speeches held by Salazar in that period. The analysis will be carried out against the background of the news about Portugal made public in the Allied press of the time and will focus on how the memory of “Portuguese neutrality” was (re)build in May 1945.