Obj. ID: 40321
Jewish printed books  Haggadah, Porto, 1928

This text was prepared by William Gross:

A Portuguese translation of the Haggadah, published for the 20th-century Marranos who still existed in Portugal. This community was rediscovered after World War I by Samuel Schwarz, a Jewish engineer who had come to Portugal from Poland. Schwarz brought their existence to the attention of the outside world, whereupon offers came from abroad to help bring these Marranos back within the fold of the Jewish people.
From the Marrano population arose a charismatic leader Arthus Carlos de Barros-Basto, who threw himself enthusiastically into the task of reclaiming and reeducating his brethren. He traveled to their remote villages, urging them to proclaim themselves openly as Jews, and translated Jewish texts into Portuguese in order to bring the Marranos into direct contact with the basic sources of Judaism. This Portuguese version of the Haggadah is one of Barros-Basto’s translations.
For a while the Portuguese Marrano revival had considerable success, enjoying the support of the Lisbon Jewish community and Sephardic Jews in other lands. Due to a variety of factors, however, the movement eventually waned and dissipated. Barros-Basto himself died in 1961.