‘Portuguese Alfred Dreyfus’ honored posthumously by rights group

A Portuguese Jewish community leader and military officer, disgraced by false and antisemitic accusations in the 1930s, has been posthumously honored by the International Observatory of Human Rights (OIDH), in partnership with B’nai B’rith Portugal.

Captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto (1887-1961) was an army officer and writer who helped establish the Jewish community in Porto.

In 1937, serving in the Portuguese army during a time of rising Catholic conservatism and nationalism, he was falsely accused of sexually abusing men he circumcised and stripped of his army rank after a secret military trial.

He is often referred to as “the Portuguese Alfred Dreyfus” – a reference to the French army captain whose wrongful conviction for treason catalyzed Theodor Herzl to found the modern Zionist movement.

A 2012 Portuguese National Assembly resolution stated that his army career was terminated “due to a generic climate of animosity” motivated by “the fact that he was Jewish.” However, a motion in 2023 to posthumously reinstate him to the army was rejected by the Portuguese government.

“Captain Barros Basto is more than a historical figure,” says OIDH president Luís Andrade at a ceremony with the officer’s family in Porto. “He is a timeless example of how personal sacrifice, national and cultural pride, and moral conviction can shape a better, more fraternal world.”