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Formerly classified Naval archive now available for public viewing

frigate4The Portuguese Navy’s Historical Archive, a significant documentary collection that reflects many important aspects of Portugal’s military history.

Researchers, journalists and students long have wanted unrestricted access to the archives but many of the records are sensitive and remain classified.

Aware of the interest in all matters naval, the Document Disqualification Commission (CDD) was created to identify and keep secret those record that remain sensitive while releasing information that can be used to fill in the gaps in historians’ knowledge while being open about Portugal military role in many conflicts, including the 'little local difficulties' in Africa.

The Commission began work in February 2017 and since then has analyzed about 1,300 linear meters of documentation. The result has been the declassification of a large number of documents offering a wealth of hitherto classified documents.

The Navy conformed that the new resource mostly is related to the Colonial War period and is available to the public at the Biblioteca Central de Marinha - Arquivo Histórico, located in Lisbon’s Cordoaria Nacional building.

 

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Comments  

+2 #2 AL 2019-04-23 09:10
Quoting Jeff Brown:
A useful step forward but is there an up to date list of just what data is not in the public domain in Portugal?

You mean secret and classified government/military documents? Perhaps if you use Google to find these but I doubt it you will be successful. 8)
-1 #1 Jeff Brown 2019-04-22 11:42
A useful step forward but is there an up to date list of just what data is not in the public domain in Portugal? For example cross referencing known events to the Salazar years is notoriously difficult as very little is in the public domain; such as extra-judicial killings and their outcome - the children orphaned off with new identities; the properties re-allocated but to whom, to where and with what result? What little is in the public domain from this period is invariably just partial reports with whole pages or even connected chapters missing. Making the Mueller report and its redactions look like over the top advertising. It is common to drive round the more remote villages in central Beiras and ask about some ruin and be told - after a long pause - to the effect that "The owners were taken away - not seen again, many years ago". With April 25 just around the corner ... can we finally have some more openness and transparency in Portugal?

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