The Substitution of Diplomat Alberto da Veiga Simões in Berlin and his Subsequent Dismissal

Abstract

Based on newly revealed documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Office, this article examines the reasons for the substitution, in July 1940, of the head of the Portuguese legation in Berlin, Alberto da Veiga Simões. It is the author's contention that the career diplomat became persona non grata in Berlin because of his behaviour and declarations, his known anti-Nazism and anti-Salazarism, as well as intrigues on the part of the head of the German legation in Lisbon, Hoyningen-Huene, and a number of Portuguese pro-Salazar newspaper editors who visited Berlin. The roles of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luís Teixeira de Sampaio, and of the dictator and Minister of Foreign Affairs Salazar in the substitution are also described and analysed.