This is a multimedia thematic dossier, featuring images and information about the return of Portuguese citizens who lived in former Portuguese colonies in Africa and who had to return following decolonization.
Of the approximately half a million “returnees,” only 5% were not from Angola and Mozambique. It was primarily from these countries that one of the world’s largest airlifts occurred, although some Portuguese also returned by sea, as explained in this document.
The dossier’s images and photographs are accompanied by text from Morgane Delaunay, a French historian specializing in colonial and post-colonial history and a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon.
The dossier is divided into five sections, narrating the story of this return and its implications: the departure from Angola and Mozambique, Portugal’s response to the returnees’ arrival, housing the returnees, the economic (re)integration of the returnees, and the memories of the return.
Featuring archive footage from RTP, the dossier presents reports on the arrival of the first refugees from Angola on July 22, 1975, their situation at Lisbon Airport, and the support provided by organizations such as the Portuguese Red Cross.
It also covers the waiting in Luanda, with several Portuguese expressing their intention to return to Angola, a country they said they believed in.
The arrival of “returnees” by sea is also documented, along with details on housing arrangements, using hotel facilities and institutions like prisons, State support, and how the topic was addressed by political parties during an ongoing revolutionary process.
“With this dossier on the returnees, we aim to bring visibility to one of the most significant human processes of the post-April 25th,” stated Maria Inácia Rezola, the executive commissioner of the Mission Structure for the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the April 25, 1974, Revolution.
The historian considers that “revisiting these stories is essential to understand not only the scale of decolonization but also its impact on Portuguese society. It contributes to a more inclusive, plural, and critical collective memory.”
