“Querida Paulinha” [Dear Paulinha], by Antenor Barreiros Marques – Aljube Prison, Lisbon
Donation by Paula Elisa Queiroz Barreiros Marques – Oeiras
Paula Elisa Queiroz Barreiros Marques is the daughter of a former political prisoner Antenor Barreiros Marques.
Paula Marques agreed to share with us some of her memories of that time. We transcribe a short excerpt from one of the letters that her father wrote to her the day after Christmas, on December 26, 1952, when he was imprisoned in the Aljube, and Paula Elisa lived in Peso da Régua.
“Dear Paulinha:
(…) My life here is very limited, as you might imagine, and you will not even fully imagine, how monotonous, filthy, and demoralizing it is for a man like me, accustomed to the work, the conviviality and the guidance of your education and all these ingrates and hard problems that require of people enough attention and energy. But, in spite of everything has in it so much of exciting and capricious and they train our courage to go ahead and look ever more and better!
As this situation leads me to think of this other existence of freedom, although relative, that you have out there, you can not completely imagine. (…)
It was a great pity that you had not arranged things to have come here, because yesterday, 25, all my companions had the visit of family members. I lost the opportunity to kiss and hug you at my will. (…)
Antenor, Lisbon, Aljube Prison, 12/26/52 “