Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45

by Neill Lochery

Lisbon had a pivotal role in the history of World War II, though not a gun was fired there. The only European city in which both the Allies and the Axis power operated openly, it was temporary home to much of Europe's exiled royalty, over one million refugees seeking passage to the U.S., and a host of spies, secret police, captains of industry, bankers, prominent Jews, writers and artists, escaped POWs, and black marketeers. An operations officer writing in 1944 described the daily scene at Lisbon's airport as being like the movie "Casablanca," times twenty. In this riveting narrative, renowned historian Neill Lochery draws on his relationships with high-level Portuguese contacts, access to records recently uncovered from Portuguese secret police and banking archives, and other unpublished documents to offer a revelatory portrait of the War's back stage. And he tells the story of how Portugal, a relatively poor European country trying frantically to remain neutral amidst extraordinary pressures, survived the war not only physically intact but significantly wealthier. The country's emergence as a prosperous European Union nation would be financed in part, it turns out, by a cache of Nazi gold.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Portugal, World War II, War, Politics, Audiobook

345 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Neill Lochery, PhD, is a world-renowned source on Israel, the Middle East, and Mediterranean history. He is the author of five books and countless newspaper and magazine articles. He regularly appears on television in the UK, the USA, and the Middle East. He is currently based at University College London and divides his time between London, Lisbon, and the Middle East.

Reviews

[Melindam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75 stars

"Lisbon played a pivotal role in World War II, though not a shot was fired there. It temporarily lodged a host of refugees, spies, secret police, bankers, writers, artists, and others. It was once referred to as being like the movie Casablanca times twenty."

The above is the cover blurb for the book, which must have been a clever marketing move, I guess, but if anyone expects a non-fiction Casablanca story here, even one time, they are in for a disappointment.

I bought this book in an Audible sale back in 2021, not b/c of the cover blurb, but because back then I listened to Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre and when he talked about the Axis and Allied powers operating in Spain, more specifically, in Madrid, I realised how little I knew about any countries that stayed "neutral" during WW II. "Little" in this case means something close to zero (but it's never too late, anyway).
Also the GR algorhythm which can generate the weirdest recommendations, got it right this time and came up with Neill Lochery's story.

It took me 3 years to finally get here, but I did listen to the book and I am glad I did.

Once again, apart from Lochery's own references to Casablanca and thus trying to evoke some similarities bw the movie and the city of Lisbon, he does not tell the tale of espionage and counterespionage in a way you'd expect.
I mean, he tells you about them, but mostly from the POV of Portugal or, more accurately, from the POV of António de Oliveira Salazar, Prime Minister of the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship), renamed later as Estado Novo (New State) between 1932 -1970. The book describes in detail all that he did to keep the country on a "knife-edged neutrality", avoiding both German and Spanish invasion and occupation as well as keeping the Allies satisfied. He is the man "that got away with it", while Lisbon was very much a diplomatic and espionage playground of both the Axis and Allied powers.

Now I found the story Lochery was telling very absorbing and interesting. There were the facts and the analysis of a historian presented very well. I have learned a lot from them and I would truly recommend this read to anyone who has been in my shoes and doesn't know much of this part of Europe and its actual history during WW2.

And, as you sense correctly, there is a BUT coming.

"But 1" is that I feel Lochery could have used a wider, broader context and given a more extensive background on the players to make this even more interesting.

The other "BUT" is bigger. Sometimes I felt that he may have identified a bit too much with Salazar (maybe it's just me), many times glossing over the fact that -while not like Hitler, Franco or Mussolini- he was an authoritarian leader and leaned very much on the secret services and the armed forces to keep him in power. Lochery seems to have too strong an admiration for Salazar and despite the politician's undeniable qualities and abilities to keep Portugal financially sound, he very much ignores that the guy kept the majority of the country in a general poverty despite the wartime, lucrative trade with both the Germans and the Allies. It seemed that Lochery sometimes was not even aware when he was giving Salazar away. Like when he kept stressing that Salazar did not have heating in his offices during the winter b/c he was a frugal man and had only a small house with garden in the countryside where he sometimes withdrew when the pressure got too much. Then he described how getting there by car took a long time b/c the roads were in a very bad condition (this after the chapter where the insanely profitable wolfram mining is described in detail). There are several slips like that that were really grating for me.

Another disturbing aspect was how sometimes Lochery wrote about Salazar and Portugal as one, when it was clearly not the case. He mentioned several times how Salazar always had Portugal's best interests at heart, like he truly believed it, but the picture he then presented us with was rather contradictory. According to his picture "Portugal's best interests" were mostly that of Salazar and a rich elite, hardly what I'd call the country as a whole.

If you can take these on board, I would still recommend this book as it is an informative and intriguing read all the same.

The narration, while not outstanding, was also good.

[Loring Wirbel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, a small, quirky book can enlighten certain moments in history's backwaters with writing that may not be stellar, but gives us a unique glimpse at corners all but forgotten. Lochery had a tight, configured story to tell which helped explain the way the "neutrals" viewed Hitler, yet he tells his story in a film-noir style, evoking a Lisbon explicitly similar to Bogart's "Casablanca." Is the book a little bit gossipy in its tales of Wallis Simpson and Peggy Guggenheim? Without a doubt. Does that detract from its worthiness? Not by much, particularly for the history buff with a sense of humor.

Lochery tells us about historical fragments that are picked up in other books with broader scope - Nazi gold being laundered in Switzerland, the antics of agent GARBO, U.S postwar negotiations with Portugal over intelligence bases in the Azores, the latent pro-Nazi sympathies of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (which gave rise to the rather hare-brained Nazi plot, Operation Willi, to kidnap Edward and Wallis). 'Lisbon' is not the primary source to find out about any of these events, but is a nice tour-de-force dealing with life in Portugal during the war.

The author is honest enough to say that Salazar, despite having helped Jewish refugees in back-handed ways, was ultimately anti-Semitic in the way he chose to ignore evidence of the Holocaust. Then again, Salazar was in good company - all his closest allies in the Spanish and Vatican City camps did not give a damn about the extermination of Jews. Still, I can't help but feel that Lochery retains too much backhanded respect for Salazar, who at the end of the day was a multi-decade dictator. Yes, Salazar displayed almost a local Keynesianism in retaining public-works projects during the war and afterward, but he was ultimately an intelligent but ruthless dictator who had no respect for democracy. Giving a nod to his works seems a bit like praising Mussolini for making the trains run on time.

If 'Lisbon' had been broader in scope, or written with exceptional flair, I would have given it four stars, and if both, I might have awarded it five. Still, the three-star award for a small, focused, and breezily-written book should not distract from the fact that this had its enjoyable moments, and you might learn a few little-known facts about the Iberian Peninsula in the war years.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not about spies in Lisbon but about the attempts of one man, the Portuguese dictator Salazar trying to steer a course between axis and allies that would most benefit Portugal during WW II. Presumably this bit of publishing misdirection was done in the interest of raising sales but happily the real subject is as if not more interesting.

The author admires Salazar more than he merits given the whole dictatorship and ruthless grip on an old country ruling an even more archaic empire. Still I enjoyed the summary based on second hand sources the author provides even if I retained a very large dose of skepticism.

[Margarida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Na verdade é mais 3,5*!

Não conhecia o autor, apesar de pelos vistos ser especialista em política e história europeia moderna… falha minha!
O tema II Guerra Mundial sempre me fascinou, talvez por ter sido um marco na História da Humanidade e que mudou o Mundo para sempre. Por isso e principalmente por o tema central deste livro ser o papel de Portugal nesse período, achei que seria uma leitura interessante e, quem sabe, enriquecedora do ponto de vista histórico…
E foi uma boa aposta! Ainda que ache que podia ter sido um pouco mais aprofundado! É realmente um bom livro, um bom documento histórico sobre o papel de Portugal na II Guerra Mundial. Nota-se que o autor fez uma boa pesquisa e com a sua escrita simples e acessível conseguiu mostrá-la ao leitor. É um livro sobre História, que nos transmite conhecimento sem ser maçador! Gostei bastante da forma como escreve e confesso que aprendi muito mais sobre a Lisboa daqueles anos do que alguma vez aprendi nos meus tempos de escola!
Entre 1939 e 1945 Lisboa era uma “ponte” para muitos refugiados, incluindo muitos judeus fugidos de outros países já em guerra, uma ponte de passagem essencialmente para os Estados Unidos e Israel, mas também um grande centro de espionagem... para ambos os lados do conflito… onde espiões de ambos os lados “conviviam pacificamente” nas ruas, hotéis e locais de diversão por toda a Lisboa! Lisboa era uma segunda Casablanca, uma cidade repleta de espiões, refugiados, contrabandistas e… diplomatas.
Salazar, defendeu sempre uma posição neutra dentro do conflito e era na verdade o seu objectivo principal: evitar que Portugal entrasse na guerra. Mas na realidade “jogava com um pau de dois bicos”… não queria melindrar os alemães com medo de uma possível invasão e como tal ter de entrar na guerra, mas também não estava interessado em melindrar os aliados para que não pensassem que apoiava Hitler.
Assim Salazar opta por, publicamente, insistir na neutralidade de Portugal na guerra! Mas por trás de todo esse interesse de Salazar na suposta defesa da paz, havia grandes interesses políticos e económicos e clandestinamente manteve “negócios” com ambas as partes! Vendeu volfrâmio à Alemanha para produção de armamento, recebendo como pagamento o polémico Ouro Nazi (vinha de reservas bancárias dos países ocupados, mas na sua maior parte era ouro roubado às vitimas do holocausto!). Por outro lado negociava com os aliados o uso das bases militares dos Açores… e tudo isto enquanto permitia que agentes de ambos os lados se movimentassem livremente pelas ruas de Lisboa (mas, claro sempre debaixo do “olho” da PVDE - futura polícia política PIDE)
Todo o livro é um autêntico documento histórico com o qual aprendi imenso. Consegue transmitir a importância, que apesar de tudo Portugal teve na guerra. Poderia no entanto ter sido um pouco mais incisivo, poderia ter mostrado um pouco mais do momento político que se vivia internamente, o estilo de vida dos portugueses ou até um pouco mais do papel do português comum, que com certeza terá tido alguma importância e não se ter cingido tanto às principais figuras publicas ou às personalidades estrangeiras que por cá passaram nesse período…
Para finalizar e como parte negativa gostava que não tivesse repetido tantas vezes que éramos um país de analfabetos ou pelo menos de pouca educação e cultura… interesseiros e corruptos! Está certo, provavelmente éramos (vivíamos numa ditadura e não convinha que fossemos demasiado informados…) é possível que sim…, mas entristeceu-me “ouvir” isso da boca de um estrangeiro!
É um bom livro e aconselho a quem gosta de História e a quem tiver curiosidade sobre este período, em Portugal!

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um excelente trabalho de investigação sobre o papel de Portugal na II Grande Guerra, e mais uma vez feito por um estrangeiro.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a great introduction of a time and place that has interested me very much. It was breezily written and covered all the main points of interest. Salazar seems to have been given a lot more love than he deserves by the author... He is seen as a canny actor who had the best interests of his country at the time in mind. But like all authoritarians, his interest lay with himself and the crony system that supported him. The justification given by the author of the decisions made by Salazar was "always for the good of Portugal", but all the money that Salazar made negotiating with both sides and using expressions like "it wouldn't be gentlemanly to break deals with Germany in order to take it stolen gold" -- would be one thing if Portugal had actually become a wealthy state, or even just relieved the backward poverty of its people people. But for all his calculations and calibrations and triangulation, Salazar didn't even spend the money that he made to help the country. What's weird about the author is that he seems to be very pro Salazar but he's constantly undermining his own statements about how great Salazar was. E.g., fairly points out that even after all the money was made during world war 2, that the country remained very poor for the next 20 years that Salazar was in power.

A clear example is when he talks about the great public works that Salazar put into play for the people, and the only one mentioned is the international football stadium, which he then refers to as run down and just not used very much anymore. (In fact the finance Minister prior to Salazar who was Salazar's mentor was the one that set into motion most of the public works projects of the late 30s)

The author does fairly point out that Salazar didn't have much interest in helping the Jews; Salazar continually referred to the persecution of the Jews by the Germans, no matter where they were in Europe, as an " internal affair". (Note that this phraseology is a favorite of dictators who avoid expressing ethics which might open them to charges of hypocrisy, or at least to discourage any kind of scrutiny at all). Also, a little embarrassing for the British and their diplomacy that allowed Portugal to finally join the allies after it was clear Germany was on the wane (maybe less able to pay for tungsten?), that the victory of the Allies was greeted by Salazar sending condolences (to whom?) over the death of Hitler!

Part of the reason for giving this compelling book three stars is that it's not really about "War in the Shadows" as much as diplomacy -- I'd become interested in wartime Portugal and espionage through the work of Ben McIntyre's books on Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat. This book is not that, despite the title; it's mostly about Salazar, which truly makes sense: given that Salazar was the Portuguese government during this time, holding all the cabinet offices, it's difficult to not talk about Salazar at every turn when describing Portugal's navigation between the warring parties. But only a few chapters focus on "War in the Shadows".

Even so, despite quite a bit of information about Salazar's opinions and daily routines and his psychology of government, I think that the author missed an opportunity to describe Salazar's connection to the Roman Catholic Church. Salazar is much less like Franco and maybe more like Pope Pius XII ( the author does briefly mention that the pontiff's photo portrait replaced Mussolini's on Salazar's desk after the fortunes of the Axis turned). There is only one mention that Salazar's roommate at Coimbra University and one of his closest confidants, who becomes the Cardinal of Lisbon. Salazar seemed to see the world through the narrow view of corporatist authoritarianism, which was the view of scholastic medieval theological law. Salazar was a man of the late medieval era, who had no trouble keeping the serfs of his country poor and never traveled outside of Portugal, and tried to keep his country in a medieval state of lese majeste for as long as possible.

In other words, Salazar could be dubbed the pope of Portugal. I think that even though the time period discussed in the book is pretty straightforward to the title, it would have been interesting to talk about the assassination attempt against Salazar in the 30s, the spilling over of the Spanish civil war, and Salazar's support for Franco that I bet had no small amount to do with the anti-clerical activities of the Spanish Republican government or at least its more fervent supporters. But I guess that would be a different book, a biography about Salazar, which this one isn't quite.

[David Canford · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in Lisbon or WW2, this non-fiction account is something a little different. The author examines how the Portuguese government tried to navigate its declared neutrality and describes life in Lisbon during WW2 when most of the rest of Europe was engulfed by war. Fearing invasion by Germany or Franco’s Spain, and facing Allied demands to stop shipment of metals vital to Germany’s war effort, Salazar, Portugal’s leader, had something of a tightrope to walk. Strangely, although Portugal profited hugely from the war, Salazar refused to use the money made to improve the country’s economy and lift it out of the poverty in which most of its citizens lived. Lots of interesting stories are to be found in this easy to read account.

[Encruzilhadas Literárias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta foi a minha última leitura com a Editorial Presença e não podia ter gostado mais! São raras as vezes em que leio livros de não-ficção mas este foi um dos que não quis mesmo perder. De facto, tendo morado toda a minha vida na área da Grande Lisboa, este fantasma mítico da Lisboa dos velhos tempos cresceu comigo, e todos os locais e recantos de história que reflectem as grandes personalidades, as imagens de marca da socialite internacional, a magia de diversas casas reais europeias a circularem pelas mesmas ruas que hoje são minhas sempre teve algo de mágico. Não pelas personalidades em questão, mas pelas páginas de história, mais ou menos conhecidas, que foram sendo escritas sobre e para este espaço.
Não posso deixar de dizer que fiquei entusiasmada e o li num ápice, cheia de atenção a todos os pormenores. É bom terminar uma leitura, confirmando várias coisas que já sabia, recolhendo factos e coleccionando novas descobertas. Quantos daqui sabem que o Casino Royal, primeira grande aventura do 007, foi inspirada no Casino do Estoril, em plena II Guerra Mundial? E que antes de termos o aeroporto na Portela os aviões provenientes de tantos lugares longínquos como os Estados Unidos amaravam no Tejo? Ou que tivemos dois casamentos de casas reais no Estoril durante este período? Talvez sejam factos de conhecimento comum, mas que para as gerações mais novas (nas quais eu me incluo), são uma redescoberta das terras que são nossas, as quais nos habituámos a conhecer e a percorrer pela palma dos pés, e que nos trazem um rectrato vivido de uma Europa já muito diferente, com dinâmicas geopolíticas de cortar a respiração, e num ambiente de espionagem e suspense que talvez não se esperasse para a representação de uma Lisboa pacata.
São sem dúvida quadros de época, repletos de pormenores de construções idiomáticas, jogos de palavras e armadilhas de poder, que representam o interesse de diplomacia internacional por Lisboa, mais precisamente pela sua posição geográfica, e pelo significado de Portugal enquanto dado de jogo nos rearranjos internacionais resultantes tanto dos conflitos da II Guerra Mundial como da Guerra Fria. Senão acreditam, têm de ler, mas podem contar com co-habitação de ingleses e alemães nas ruas que tão conhecemos, com ilustrações da bonita Lisboa em filmes e revistas de renome, e com cartões de visita a imensas personalidades internacionais, onde contamos com artistas, actores, empresários, jornalistas, políticos e elementos das casas reais que marcaram o panorama internacional, e que passaram e/ou habitaram em Portugal (a título de exemplo, a princesa Grace Kelly ou a visita de Isabel II e do marido).
Só não leva um cinco porque acho que apesar destes acontecimentos importantes, e ainda que surjam excertos descritivos de Lisboa, o livro precisava de um capítulo introdutório caracterizador da cidade à época, assim como das populações locais, de modo a que todos os enquadramentos representados tivessem um seguimento sustentado. A lógica segue também para a apresentação de um mapa da cidade, a acompanhar os variados registos fotográficos, dado que as ruas que a mim me são familiares, porque sempre aqui vivi, o possam não ser quem não a conheça tão bem ou nunca tenha visitado Lisboa. - Cláudia

[Catarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a great view and great research about the "so-not-neutral" position of Portugal and Salazar's politics during the WWII. However it could also focus more in the portuguese, their reactions to the war phases and their living style amongst the the dictatorial system and so as the refugees (besides looking to portugal as "gate" to the USA or Palestine)

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Officially neutral during WWII, Portugal and particularly its capital Lisbon became home to all manner of shady deals, intrigue and subterfuge, a hub for spies and diplomats, refugees and exiled royalty, smugglers, businessmen and war profiteers, while Portuguese dictator Salazar attempted to steer a careful course that would keep his country out of the war while simultaneously bolstering its economy through deals with both sides. This particular part of WWII history is one I knew very little about, so this made for fascinating reading with plenty of interesting details.

[Owlseyes]

https://www.noticiasmagazine.pt/2020/... (the interview is meant for his new book about Porto)

[Margarida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mais um livro deste autor em que se foca a Lisboa do antigamente. Desta vez não se fala apenas dos espiões que actuavam nos hotéis de Lisboa e no Estoril em plena II Guerra Mundial. Fala-se também do papel de Salazar e da diplomacia externa (ou a falta dela), da forma como a ditadura era vista pelos outros países. Fala-se do papel dúbio de Portugal na II Guerra Mundial, a apregoada neutralidade nada era para além de uma fachada para manter os negócios da venda do volfrâmio com os alemães e negociar a utilização da Base das Lajes com os ingleses e com os americanos. Esses são dois grandes temas para Salazar e Portugal nessa época, para além de não perder o controlo sobre as colónias ultramarinas.
Desde que terminou a II Guerra Mundial, que Portugal assinou o tratado da NATO e aderiu à ONU e a sua política colonialista era fortemente sancionada internacionalmente, mas Portugal sempre jogou com o interesse dos EUA pela Base das Lajes nos Açores, devido à sua posição estratégica.
Para além da idade avançada de Salazar e a sua saúde debilitada, com 2 AVC's após 1968, houve a necessidade de o substituir na liderança do governo, o que foi assumido por Marcelo Caetano. Na realidade nada mudou da filosofia do Estado Novo e o grande "tiro no pé", segundo o autor, foi para além da manutenção da guerra colonial que levava praticamente todos os fundos do orçamento de estado, o facto de Portugal ter permitido que os EUA utilizassem a Base das Lajes para reabastecimento das tropas e aviões que eram utilizado na guerra israelo-árabe de 1973. Como consequência, os países produtores de petróleo provocaram um embargo de petróleo a Portugal e a crise económica no país só se agravou.
Tudo factores que enfraqueceram o regime e que permitiram o fim da ditadura com a Revolução de 1974.
Uma interessante perspectiva, com base em documentação nacional e estrangeira, que nos dá a visão de Portugal e sobretudo de Lisboa nos anos entre 1933 e 1974 mas como era vista pelos estrangeiros.

[Xana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content of the book is in fact really interesting. Being Portuguese myself, I must admit that I ignored many of the dynamics that revolve around Portugal's role in WWII.
This book tells the story on how Portugal kept its neutrality and came out better than before, opposite to everyone else.
However, the way the information is structured is confusing. i understand the author's approach, and I can even imagine that, in theory, it sounded like a good idea to tell the story per theme, rather than chronologically. Still, I found myself often confused with all the back and forth plot-telling movement. There are also some issues with the writing itself, the author tends to be redundant.
I am glad I read it and learnt new things, but I find it a pity that the writing itself wasn't further improved.

[Carlos Esteves · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book isn’t about Lisbon and spies during WW2. This book os about Salazar and WW2. You just need to count how many times the word Lisbon and Salazar is used.
So, if you want to know more about Lisbon in the 40s, don’t buy this book.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisbon a city in the shadows is a non-fiction book by Neil Lochery about a country's importance in WW2 and the stories that go unheard.A city where the allied and axis powers fought over espionage,propaganda,refugees fleeing France and natural resources within the country.This book also goes through how the dictator of Portugal at the time Slazer helped guide Portugal through the war without declaring war on the allies or the axis powers.This book will help you understand how important of a role portugal’s government played in during WW2.My overall opinion was that I loved it Because I like how the book was written in a way that it flowed perfectly from before the war to after the war.I also like how the author told you the facts and also how he described the characters in the book.The main reason why I loved this book is that my family is from Portugal and we never really heard about the information and stories in this book.So it was really cool to learn that the country that you come from play
a key part WW2.The one nagative I have is that the wording is just a bit more difficult than I am use to.Another reason why I Ioved this book so much was that the stories that were in the book were amazingly cool and accurate.I had nothing negative to say about this book it's all positive.If I was going recommend this I would recommend it to people who love history and people who love learning about events that they didn't know about before they read a book.My expectations were exceeded because I didn't expect the author to provide such great information about Portugal and the war that almost completely destroyed Europe.My emotional response was happy because it exceeded my expectations.This is a brief summary of Lisbon a city in the shadows and my response to the book.

[Kuba Krasny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niezwykle skrupulatnie, aczkolwiek ciekawie i płynnie, opisana historia stolicy Portugalii czasu II wojny światowej. Głównymi tematami są tutaj starcia szpiegów i wywiadów państw osi i aliantów, a także "neutralność" i rola Portugalii w konflikcie. Lochery skupia się na szczegółowym opisaniu reżimu Salazara. Bardzo ciekawa, aczkolwiek tematycznie hermetyczna książka. Dla miłośników historii IIWŚ i Lizbony idealna!

[Natalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for people who are interested in Portuguese history. It suits perfectly for getting closer to historical context that influenced national character, culture and memory.

I learned a lot about Portugal's place in the 2-nd WW, how it managed to keep neutral and what was the cost of this policy.

Since I currently live in Portugal, I'm really thankful to the author for this profound yet very readable book.

[Joao Faria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Descrição muito interessante e histórica não só sobre a cidade de Lisboa durante a guerra e as suas dinâmicas, mas sobretudo o interessantíssimo jogo de cintura do governo português entre os aliados e o eixo.
Para quem gosta de história (e de Lisboa) é um bom livro!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book I might downgrade to 4.5 stars, as I would have like an epilogue featuring more long term, rather than short term, consequences. But that aside, this is the archetype for concise, to-the-point, waste-no-words history...covering a corner of WW2 that rarely gets a look-in. Wonderful scholarship and fluid writing.

[LUCAS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok flex read it in one day thanks audible I want my free trial back

[Paul W · Rating 2 out of 5]

Portugal in the 1930s and 1940s was a contradiction: an authoritative, albeit benign, dictatorship in a period where the democracies were at war with dictatorships; but it also had an ‘ancient alliance with England’, with the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty dating back to 1373. A major supplier of tungsten to the Germans; but also a point of exit for numerous Jewish refugees.
While not playing quite the ‘pivotal role in the history of World War II’ that the book’s dustjacket claims, the history of Lisbon (and Portugal) is under-represented. Admirably, Lochery sets out to address this.
While Lochery has extensively researched his topic he fails to adequately address the critical period in the Mediterranean campaign, June 1940 to October 1942 when the Axis were dominant in Europe and the Mediterranean and Spain was close to joining the Tripartite Pact.
Lochery's research is also undermined by some fairly basic errors. Sunday November 7 1943 may have been a quiet day for Salazar, and he may have been reading his diary. But he did not receive a call from Campbell at 9:30pm. That was Saturday 7 November 1942, the day Operation Torch was launched. And the Luftwaffe never had orders to shoot down planes flying between Lisbon and Portugal! Basic errors like this undermine a readers confidence in a historians work..
When not getting dates incorrect, Lochery’s narrative is ambiguous on the timing of events, exacerbated by his habit of jumping back and forth between different dates in order to force a thematic into his chapters. However this only serves to make his narrative hard to follow.
Like many who have done significant research in primary records Lochery, and his editor, have succumbed to the temptation to include material that ought to have removed. That Moran recorded that Churchill sighed before meeting the Duke of Windsor ought to have been unnoteworthy and is certainly irrelevant. The excessive details about Peggy Guggenheim are a significant distraction and detraction from this book.
Lochery has include enough material to make Lisbon an informative read, but falls short of what this could have been.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid history of Portugal's role as a neutral country and Antonio Salazar's efforts to keep the country from being drawn into World War II -- or worse, being attacked by Spain. It tells the story of the capital, Lisbon, which was the capital of espionnage and counter-espionnage for the Allies and Axis powers during the war. Lochery keeps the story relevant to American readers by not delving too deeply into the histories of various Portugese personalities in the story, even cutting the story of banker Ricardo Espirito Santos too short early in the book by saying that his "role in the war remains very much misrepresented and misunderstood."

It also contains the most-detailed account of BOAC Flight 777A, which carried actor Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes of "Gone with the Wind") and his agent. The flight was shot down by a Luftwaffe fighter on June 1, 1943. German agents had been alerted to look out for Winston Churchill returning from the Casablanca conference and it has long been believed that a German agent mistook Howard's portly agent for the British prime minister. Lochery says that British intelligence were alerted by Ultra decrypts that the flight was targeted but allowed it to proceed. He also notes that three or four others on the flight might have been the real targets of German spies, including Ivan Sharp, a British wolfram expert, and Wilfrid Israel, a Zionist activist and Jewish rescue worker.

The book is only marred by an error at the outsidet of the chapter titled "Ancient Alliance". Twice it says that Antonio Salazar was informed of the Allies' invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch) in November, 1943 -- when it happened in 1942. The apparent typo in the first edition confuses the rest of the chapter, which details discussions by the Allies to gain access to the Portugese Azores for logistics.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neill Lockery had a challenge: Would readers care about Lisbon’s neutral role in WWIi—a poor country that experienced a big bump in exports in the war years; in spies and refugees like Chagall, Ernst and Peggy Guggenheim; and in Nazi gold, much of it seized by Hitler’s forces from occupied nations and extorted or simply stolen from Jews?

Would readers be engaged by the Rick’s Cafe-like atmosphere of the smoky cafes, or the big casino where James Bond’s creator played … or the foggy airport where Allies and Axis aircraft often sat side by side?

Tbh, that only gets you part of the way there. History buffs may like the profile of the crafty, workaholic dictator who kept Portugal out of active WWII participation, even after Hitler blitzkrieged up to the Iberian Peninsula. Salazar juggled both sides-shipping valuable tungsten to the Nazis, agreeing to open up the Azores to the Allies. A rogue diplomat in Bordeaux allowed thousands of Jews entry into Portugal—Salazar fired the diplomat for it. (The diplomat died penniless, but was honored, like Wallenberg and Varian Fry, from keeping thousands of Jews from the Holocaust’s death chambers.

António de Oliveira Salazar managed to keep hundreds of tons of Nazi gold from postwar Allied demands to return it. He foresaw the bipolar world of a collapsed Germany, and played the anti-Communist card (and potential postwar US bases) to keep the Allies from pressing too hard for the gold.

The dictator, with his valuable partners in banking, the military and the Catholic hierarchy, ruled more than two decades more.

[Nightwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're old like me you remember the days of writing book reports in school with only the local library and your parents' copy of Encyclopedia Britannica to aid you. You could find maybe two or three books on the subject of your paper, who was almost inevitably a white man or part of the select pantheon of Lady Report Subjects (Betsy Ross, Harriet Tubman, Dolley Madison, Queen Elizabeth), and even if, like me, you were a voracious reader, you inevitably found yourself increasing your font size, shrinking your margins, and hoping that the teacher didn't notice you'd clearly only actually read all the way through one of the three books.

This is that, in "history book" form. I would be genuinely shocked if you told me Lochery spoke Portuguese; the sources he actually references in the book are basically (1) papers from British archives (meaning he treats all the diplomatic reports from idiots trying to cover their butts as real true fact) and (2) things written about Portugal in English, no matter how flimsy (he, no joke, repeatedly cites an English-language biography of Salazar published before World War II even started). The book is a hodgepodge of random stories, factoids, assertions about Salazar's character that seem to be sourced entirely from 1930s British tabloids, and a ridiculous amount of information about the Duke of Windsor, about whom I do not care. I didn't find this book offensive, but it was frankly an enormous waste of time.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lisbon in 1939, had a 400+ year alliance with Great Britian and no standing army. Add in a Spanish neighbor with ambitions for conquest and an alliance/friendship with Germany; it was only thru skilled negotiations and compromises that Portugal remained neutral. Salazar, dictator and leading government bureaucrat had a long memory of 1807 when Napoleon invaded Lisbon. He knew how long it took to recover and he knew how poor Portugal was in 1939. He traded with both Allies and Axis to protect Portugal and to grow it's economy.

Why I started this book: My sister lived in Portugal for 1.5 years and I wanted to learn more about the country and history. Plus, I love learning about World War II.

Why I finished it: Interesting, quick history to an area of the European theater that I wasn't familiar with at all. Also interesting the arguments of war profiteering and moral laxness about Salazar; what was his responsibility to the world vs. his responsibilities to Portugal.

[Darklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Para quem se interessa pelo tema da II Guerra Mundial, este livro expõe magnificamente a posição de Portugal, as políticas de neutralidade de Salazar e a espionagem face à guerra. Excelente e muito bem documentado.

[Diogo Almeida · Rating 2 out of 5]

História muito resumida e redutora, misto de descrição da visita de famosos a Portugal e de alguns episódios relevantes da história do Estado Novo, mas que acaba por corresponder muito pouco a uma história de Lisboa e por ser algo desgarrada.

[Barbara M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I had just done a World War II themed book (A Thread of Grace) and I needed a book on Lisbon for the Horizons challenge, I decided that this would be the book I would read. The minute I saw the title, I realized that I had no idea what part Portugal played in the war and, being an historian, I needed to know!

Lisbon was the captial and center of all politics in Portugal. Portugal was certainly an agrarian country with some mining, rich in Wolfram a/k/a tungsten, an item that was highly desired by the warring countries. Portugal's leader was Dr. Antonio De Oliveira Salazar who became Prime Minister in 1932. He combined that role with that of other Ministries and became a virtual dictator. However, he was very intelligent, scholarly, and austere, not what I would envision from what I've seen/heard of dictators. He had trained for years for the priesthood but left that to pursue other academic studies. Initially he had to be convinced to join the political field. During the war, Salazar wanted his country to be neutral, that was not going to be easy to maintain throughout the war.

Portugal's borders, so close to France and Spain, meant the maintaining of neutrality was not going to be easy, Spain was also a dictatorship and desired to be neutral but with some Axis leanings. I was amazed at the difficulty and the worry that Germany might decide to go from France and Italy and take the small county that was so rich in Worfram that Germany needed for their armaments. Salazar sold to both Britain and Germany, trying to keep them both satisfied.

Portugal also became a stop over for people trying to escape from Germany and German occupied France and Italy. Many Jews, rich and poor, artists, and even royals too (i.e.)the Dukes and Duchesses of Kent and Windsor) as they tried to make their way back to England; or, in the case of the Jews, America or Israel. Gugenheim, Ernst, and Chagall were also among those seeking escape. Anyone leaving German occupied countries were not allowed to stay, they were on "onward visas" and had to find ways to their next destination. It was also too expensive to stay, it wasn't an easy time for the refugees. There was great concern over the political immigrants as they might be communists.

Spies were a big part of what was happening in Portugal. There were both Allied and Axis spies sitting side by side at the gaming tables or the coffee houses. I read names that I had also seen when I read Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory last year.

The book demonstrated the huge economic aspects of the war. The Portuguese demanded gold from the Germans in payment for their imports. The Germans were stealing gold from the countries they occupied and, as most know, from the Jews they imprisoned in the camps. At the end of the war, the Allies claimed that the gold collected from the Germans was to be returned. The end of the war was not the end of problems for Salazar and Portugal, it required quite a bit of diplomacy.

I'm not a big reader of non-fiction because I dearly love all kinds of fiction. When I do read non-fiction I'm always delighted about the new things I learn and this fit the bill. I knew nothing of this country, people, and history. This filled that void.

[Frank Missell · Rating 4 out of 5]

António de Oliveira Salazar was the President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal from 1932 to 1968 and his regime lasted until 1974, making it one of the longest lived authoritarian regimes in modern Europe. This being said, it seems somewhat unusual to encounter a book which discusses in a sympathetic manner the problems which Salazar faced governing Portugal during World War II. In fact, Salazar decided that Portugal should remain neutral during war. However, Portugal, which has large deposits of the heavy metal wolfram (also known as tungsten) which can be used to make armor-piercing artillery shells, became the principal supplier of this metal to the German war industry. Thus, Portugal agreed to supply this material in order to avoid the possibility of a German, or possibly Spanish, invasion to secure this valuable metal. (It must be remembered that Germany had overrun France and German troops were positioned along the Spanish border.) Salazar tried to sell limited quantities of wolfram to Germany in order that Portugal´s status as a neutral country was not called into question. Portugal also maintained ties to England. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance dates from 1373, when the Treaty of London was signed, and is the oldest alliance in history. England used their relationship with Portugal to try to control the amount of wolfram sold to Germany. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, fleeing from the Nazis, spent time in Cascais at the home of Portuguese banker Ricardo Espirito Santo and were to be used in a plot against the government. Fortunately they escaped to England before the plans could be carried out. England also used the treaty with Portugal to insist upon the use of airbases in the Azores, an island chain in the mid Atlantic which was a convenient refueling point for planes crossing the Atlantic to Africa or Europe. After the entry of the United States into the war, the pressure on the Portuguese to cede airbases increased substantially. In fact, there existed a plan to dispatch a force of 15,000 men to take the Azores should Portugal refuse to allow their use by the Allies. Thus, Salazar was faced with pressure from both sides and had to do a careful balancing act to avoid being drawn further into the hostilities in course. The book describes Salazar´s efforts to maintain the neutrality of Portugal and presents brief descriptions of his personal life. Salazar spent most of his time working and never devoted attention to women or family, although there is a summary description of perhaps his only romantic encounter. His obsessive working allowed Salazar to control in detail most aspects of the economy and foreign policy of the country. For example, Germany paid Portugal for the wolfram received with gold bars which, unfortunately, were marked with swastikas and inscribed as belonging to the Reichsbank. Salazar devoted a great deal of effort to “laundering” the gold bars so that they could not be identified as Nazi gold after the war. Portugal was thus able to keep the gold obtained from Salazar´s dealings with Nazi Germany.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and interesting account of Portugal's delicate role during the Second World War, focused mainly in and around Lisbon. It offers a good portrait of the city as a fertile ground for spies, counter-spies, and double agents; and bursting at the seams with refugees, rich and poor. The topic of wolfram (tungsten) sold in exchange for looted Nazi gold is well-covered, as is the nail-biting diplomatic balancing act which maintained Portugal's neutrality and independence.

Many colorful personalities are given attention, including diplomats, movie stars, secret agents, and bankers. But the theme of practically every chapter was the role of Salazar, the dictator/puppet master, whose intellectual and political brilliance, incorruptibility, and patriotism are emphasized over and over, while the other aspects of his absolute authoritarianism get barely a mention. Perhaps the author went a bit far in his unfettered, gushing portrayal of the man, which to me lessened the objective credibility of the book.

I have to mention the atrocious--or, rather, the complete absence of--editing in this book. Every chapter is rife with missing words, extraneous words, misspellings and typographical errors. One or two is forgivable, but these are like pock shots every couple pages, which I found more than distracting. What's worse--again thanks to the obvious lack of editing--is the inconsistency of the dates. In the chapter about Leslie Howard's ill-fated flight, we know it happened in June, but the year shifts back and forth between 1942 and 1943, finally settling on 1942, when 1943 should have been correct. Then we read of Britain and the USA discussing joint policies regarding troop movements and the Azores in May 1941...a full 6 months before America joined the war; maybe this did happen in secret, but how can I be sure? I lost all trust in the author providing the correct dates.
Finally, there is a lot of repetition. For example, every time Ian Fleming is mentioned, we are reminded that he is the author of the James Bond "movies" (sic). Many other figures get the same repetitive treatment. Again, even a half-awake editor would have cut out most of these redundancies.

All in all, a fascinating topic, well-presented in content, with irritating flaws in delivery. Next time, Mr. Lochery, please find a copy editor.