The Municipality of Loulé and the IHC were awarded the 2nd Honourable Mention of the Municipal Award “Aristides de Sousa Mendes and other Portuguese Saviours – Holocaust, Universal Values, Humanism and Justice”, in the category Shaping the Future on Living Memories and Experiences, with the project “Portuguese Forced Labourers in the Third Reich and Louletanos in the Nazi Concentration System”.

The Award, whose attribution ceremony took place yesterday at the Palácio Galveias Library, “recognizes the local authorities that, on their own initiative or in conjunction with civil society, promoted initiatives of high merit and public interest”. In this first edition, 42 applications were presented in the five categories, whose winners were:

• Social and Community Cohesion: Municipal Council of Immigrants — Integration and Interculturality, Municipality of Braga;
• Arts, Heritage and Other Cultural Domains: House of Jewish History in Elvas — Recreation of the Medieval Synagogue, Municipality of Elvas;
• Making it Happen: In the suitcases we leave our heart…, Municipality of Vila Nova de Poiares and the Schools of Vila Nova de Poiares;
• Differentiation, Innovation, Creativity: Cerveira-Tomiño — A Naturally Common and Truly European Space, Municipality of Vila Nova de Cerveira;
• Shaping the Future on Living Memories and Experiences: Vilar Formoso Fronteira de Paz — Memorial to Refugees and Consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Municipality of Almeida.

Picture: Delivery of Honourable Mention diplomas by Augusto Santos Silva (Minister of State and Foreign Affairs) to Vítor Aleixo (President of Loulé’s City Council) and António Carvalho (Director of the National Archaeology Museum, Associates Researcher at IHC and member of the project).