Neill Lochery > Quotes

“Salazar still clung to the hope of a German conditional surrender, which would preserve some order of a continental European power structure1 and prevent what he saw as the carving up of Europe between the communists of the Soviet Union in the East, and the capitalists of the United States in the West.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“It would be a sign of the maturing nature of Portuguese democracy if the issues surrounding its trade in World War II were given a less politicized and a more open and fair critical assessment. Only then will the story of Lisbon during World War II have a real ending.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“The issue of the gold and trade in wolfram with Germany during World War II remains a deeply divisive issue in postauthoritarian, democratic Portugal”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“Upon his return to the United States, Fry tried to warn the government about the plight of the Jews in Europe. Curiously, his work in France led him to be investigated by the FBI, who put him on their watch list. Fry died in 1967 while reediting his memoirs. His name often appears in biographies of the famous, many of whom owe their lives to him and his small dedicated team of helpers.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“So the United States put the development of its strategic cold war needs over the pursuit of justice for the occupied countries that had gold stolen by the Germans from Central Banks and from individuals. The American set of priorities also abandoned the search for justice for victims of the Holocaust whose gold was stolen by the Germans.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“He is a calm man in a land of hotheads,”
― Neill Lochery, Brazil: The Fortunes of War

“At the center of his belief set was a deep fear of the threat from the Soviet Union and communism in general. For Salazar, the real conflict was not a war between the Western European powers, but rather the coming confrontation with the Soviet Union.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“In the film Casablanca, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) and Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) were to fly to Portela; in fact Portela Airport actually looked rather similar to the movie set version of Casablanca Airport.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

“Over dinner, Espírito Santo recalled asking Salazar whether or not his bank should suspend its business with the Germans. Salazar replied that he understood that the outcome of the war was clear in that the Allies were going to win, but that he thought it would not be gentlemanly to suspend all business with the Germans.”
― Neill Lochery, Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45