Fernando Rosas
Biography
Fernando José Mendes Rosas was born in Lisbon on April 18, 1946, into a family with republican and anti-fascist traditions. He studied at Pedro Nunes High School and participated in the founding of the Pro-Association of High Schools Committee in 1960. In 1961, he joined the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and, in 1962, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, participated in student protests.
The first time he entered the Aljube prison was to visit his grandfather, who was imprisoned there. He returned in January 1965, but as a political prisoner. Imprisoned in Caxias, he was sentenced by the Full Court to 15 months in prison in August 1965. Later, he left the PCP and participated in the creation of the Student Democratic Left (EDE) and the Reorganization Movement of the Proletarian Party (MRPP). Arrested again in August 1971, in Caxias, and subjected to eight consecutive days of sleeping torture. Sentenced to 14 months in prison, he was sent to Peniche prison, from where he was released in October 1972. He went into hiding after escaping from prison again in March 1973.
After the April 25th Revolution, he directed Luta Popular, the newspaper of the MRPP (Brazilian People’s Party), a party he would later abandon. In the 1980s, he began a brilliant academic career in teaching and researching contemporary history. He is the author of seminal works on Salazarism. He has participated in numerous research projects, documentaries, and exhibitions. He was involved in the creation of the Aljube Museum and the National Museum of Resistance and Freedom in Peniche. In 1999, he co-founded the Left Bloc, for which he served as a member of the Assembly of the Republic and candidate in the 2001 presidential election.
Date of Collection: 20.04.2016
Keywords: Aljube Prison, Family, Students, Comunist Party, 1962 Academic Crisis, Interrogations, Torture, Political Police, Caxias, Peniche, Plenary Court, Memory Preservation, Colonial War, Marcelism, PIDE.
