Comassis

Comassis (an acronym for Comissão Portuguesa de Assistência aos Judeus Refugiados, or Portuguese Commission for Assistance to Jewish Refugees) was a humanitarian organization based in Lisbon, Portugal, during World War II. Its mission was to assist Jewish refugees transiting through Portugal. In the early 1930s the escalation of anti-Semitic persecutions in Eastern Europe, coupled with the rapid rise of Nazism in Germany, prompted the initial migration of Ashkenazi Jews to Portugal. These refugees swiftly assimilated into both Portuguese society and the local Israeli Community. The Portuguese Jewish citizens held a significant role by providing crucial support to Jewish refugees. Initially, they established the "Portuguese Commission for Assistance to Refugee-Jews in Portugal" (COMASSIS), under the leadership of Augusto Isaac de Esaguy and having Adolfo Benarús as Honorary Chairman. In 1937 Adolfo Benarus published a book in which he applauded the lack of anti-Semitism in Portugal. The honorary president of the Jewish community of Lisbon, claimed that "happily in Portugal, modern anti-Semitism doesn't exist".…

Comassis (an acronym for Comissão Portuguesa de Assistência aos Judeus Refugiados, or Portuguese Commission for Assistance to Jewish Refugees) was a humanitarian organization based in Lisbon, Portugal, during World War II. Its mission was to assist Jewish refugees transiting through Portugal. In the early 1930s the escalation of anti-Semitic persecutions in Eastern Europe, coupled with the rapid rise of Nazism in Germany, prompted the initial migration of Ashkenazi Jews to Portugal. These refugees swiftly assimilated into both Portuguese society and the local Israeli Community. The Portuguese Jewish citizens held a significant role by providing crucial support to Jewish refugees. Initially, they established the "Portuguese Commission for Assistance to Refugee-Jews in Portugal" (COMASSIS), under the leadership of Augusto Isaac de Esaguy and having Adolfo Benarús as Honorary Chairman. In 1937 Adolfo Benarus published a book in which he applauded the lack of anti-Semitism in Portugal. The honorary president of the Jewish community of Lisbon, claimed that "happily in Portugal, modern anti-Semitism doesn't exist". With the Anschluss of 1938, Portugal experienced an increased influx of refugees, and Adolf Benarus, the then president of COMASSIS who had turned 75 had to step down as president and it was Augusto d’Esaguy, who had been the committee’s Secretary-General since its foundation in 1933, that assumed the presidency, a role he kept through 1945. ===Bibliography===

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