Secret Jews: Samuel Schwarz’s Discovery of Portugal’s Crypto-Jews

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In 1925, mining engineer Samuel Schwarz stumbled onto a secret Jewish community in rural Portugal—families who preserved Jewish identity for centuries under the Portuguese Inquisition. In this episode of Jewish History Nerds, Jonathan Schwab and Yael Steiner trace how “crypto-Jews” survived through hidden rituals, oral tradition, and underground prayer spaces—and what happened once the outside world finally found them. What would you do to keep a tradition alive?

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Here is a link to Dr. Henry Abramson's translation of Samuel Schwartz's book: Discovering the Crypto-Jews of Portugal (amazon.nl/-/en/Discovering-Crypto-Jews-Portuga…)

Check out the episode submitted to the Signal Awards.

It features descendants of Portugal's Crypto Jews⁠ The First Jews in the Americas, Fleeing the Inquisition. ⁠⁠ (unpacked.media/the-first-jews-in-the-americas-…)

⁠Jewish Pirates And the Caribbean⁠ (unpacked.media/jewish-pirates-and-the-caribbean)

For more on Samuel Schwarz and the discovery of the Crypto-Jews of Portugal, click here: docs.google.com/document/d/1cgXAN6EiJRw9qWGHeR…

Watch Yael and Schwab on ⁠YouTube⁠ (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgPaAFlsq_5O5LUa1Vd…):

This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out Unpacked on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (youtube.com/channel/UCU63EiU7Y-8xcRntPIRVrzA).

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