The Ephemera Archive Collection
This exhibition explores war in an increasingly “modern” dimension: the war of propaganda. This is a total war that extends far beyond states and is global in nature. It is increasingly dependent on technology, but, at its core, it remains a war directly connected to armed conflict.
Its objective is the “conquest of souls”, shaping perceptions and actions that influence nations’ willingness to fight or surrender. It intervenes in the political sphere of regimes and their confrontation, makes use of the dissemination of “achievements” of all kinds, and employs all the classic forms of lying: falsehood, the suggestion of falsehood, and the omission of truth.
The Second World War was a period of great innovation in propaganda techniques, making use of radio, cinema, comic strips, caricature, and the theatrical choreography of political rallies.
The Portuguese case is a typical example of the propaganda techniques used by all the belligerents, with the exception of the USSR due to censorship. This exhibition highlights the importance of Portugal in this “other war”, its methods, themes and targets, presenting more than one hundred examples of propaganda produced in Portuguese and in Portugal between 1939 and 1945.
The Ephemera Archive’s collection on this subject is unique in Portugal. It comprises around 600 items, of which 200 will be exhibited.
The exhibition, which also has the support and collaboration of the Cidade dos Arquivos, is part of the European Heritage Days programme.
CURATION AND TEXTS
ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL EPHEMERA
José Pacheco Pereira
SELECTION, EXHIBITION MATERIALS AND CONTENT
ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL EPHEMERA
PROMOTION
ARS – Arco Ribeirinho Sul / Associação Cultural Ephemera
From 22 September to 31 December 2026
Free admission
Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Arco Ribeirinho Sul
Warehouse 150, Rua 4, No. 61B
Parque Empresarial do Barreiro