When I began to think about writing my upcoming mystery A Dark and Deadly Journey (Evelyne Redfern #3), I knew exactly where I wanted to send Evelyne and her partner David Poole.
Although it remained neutral during World War 2, Portugal played an important role that placed it firmly at the centre of global politics. Not only did Portugal have valuable resources that both the Allied and Axis wanted access to, the city of Lisbon became a stop for many refugees from occupied Europe looking to travel on to places like the United States, Britain, and Canada. The city also became a hotbed for espionage with intelligence officers from both sides countries risking the censure of the Portuguese government in order to run clandestine operations.
Portuguese neutrality during the war
At the beginning of World War 2, Portugal’s dictator Antonio Salazar declared that the country would remain neutral. He pointed, in part, to the 550-year-old Anglo-Portuguese Alliance between Portugal and the United Kingdom, which declared that the two countries would never participate in wars on the opposite sides. His decision was bolstered by the fact that the United Kingdom did not call on Portugal formally for assistance during the war.
However, neutrality in principle is slightly different than practice. Portugal had strong economic and diplomatic ties to the United Kingdom, while also dealing with Nazi Germany in the form of the sale of the mineral wolfram (tungsten), which was vital for the manufacture of arms.
Salazar and his Estado Novo government were not the only ones on the Iberian Peninsula with an official policy of neutrality and a more ambiguous practical policy. General Francisco Franco’s Spain also declared itself neutral while maintaining close ties to the Axis powers. This caused tension on both sides during the war, threatening Portuguese neutrality at times.
Onward journeys
Because Portugal was ostensibly sitting out the war, it became a logical place for refugees to aim for while fleeing German-occupied Europe. Many crossed from France into Spain and then stopped in Lisbon, trying to arrange the visas needed for their onward travel to places like the United States, Britain, and Canada. Refugees had to collect the correct paperwork from various government bodies. This could be a long process, leaving them stuck in a sort of limbo in the capital city.
During this time, it was common to hear many different languages spoken in the city’s famous cafés as people waited for their visas to be processed. The wealthier refugees might also amuse themselves by visiting the city’s many hotel bars, and at night they could venture to Estoril Casino to dine and gamble. However, even the well-to-do sometimes found themselves growing short of funds while they waited for their paperwork. Lisbon’s jewelry market became flooded with people trying to sell diamonds and other precious gems to fund their indefinite stays in Lisbon or to purchase passage on ships or planes.
No matter whether refugees had funds or not, all lived under fear of attracting teh attention of the Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa do Estado (PVDE). The Portuguese state’s police force was in operation until 1945, and had a fierce reputation for ruthlessness. The PVDE monitored foreigners in the country (among other things) and those running foul of its officers might find themselves arrested, imprisoned, or possibly tortured.
A hotbed of espionage
Despite the fierce reputation of the PVDE and the Portuguese government’s strict order that no foreign espionage activities should take place on its soil, Lisbon quickly became a city of spies during the war. Allied and Axis countries both ran intelligence and misinformation operations out of Lisbon with Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union, Spain, and the United States all dispatching spies to the city.1 The Americans even nicknamed Lisbon “the capital of espionage.”
It should hardly be a surprise that Lisbon’s refugee situation meant the city suffered a temporary housing crisis during the war with hotel occupancy skyrocketing and the prices of those hotel rooms going up as well. Some of those hotels became known for being favored by Allied or Axis spies, although in some places its likely that the shortage of space meant that enemies rubbed elbows with each other while walking through the lobby.
The most likely place for spies on opposite sides of the war to meet, however, was the casino. Because everyone who could go to Estoril Casino went, it was not uncommon for agents from different intelligence organizations to gamble at the same tables. It was, in some ways, the expression “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” writ large.
It probably goes without saying that spying in Lisbon could be a dangerous operation. Anyone caught running intelligence operations in the city would have faced arrest at the hands of the PVDE and would have faced deportation from the country. This, however, did not seem to stop any of the countries from operating.
The end of the war
Although there were times where it seemed that Portugal might be pushed to finally enter the war on the side of the Allies or the Axis, Salazar managed to toe a difficult line and kept Portugal neutral. After the war, Salazar did call for flags to be flown at half mast upon learning of Hitler’s death, and he allowed a prominent German diplomat to settle in Lisbon. Yet at the same time, Portugal aided the Allies in the final stages of the war and was accepted into the United States’ Marshall Plan because of it.2
Ultimately, by the time World War 2 ended, Portugal found itself wealthier than it had once been without suffering the deprivations that many European countries had.
A Dark and Deadly Journey (Evelyne Redfern #3) comes out September 23rd and is available to preorder from your favorite independent bookstore or online retailer in print, audiobook, and ebook.
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Saturday, October 11, 2025 at 10 a.m. PT
Julia Kelly In Conversation with Celeste Connally Hosted by Warwick’s Books (virtual event)
Ian Fleming, future author of the James Bond novels, was dispatched to Lisbon for a period of time during the war.
Salazar’s dictatorship would come to an end in 1974 with a left-wing military coup called the Carnation Revolution.
Finished reading your book A dark and deadly journey. Loved it. Can't wait for book 4.