The Commission of the Black Book: The Searching for Truth in Portugal’s Democratization

Abstract

The Commission of the Black Book on the Fascist Regime was created in 1977, in Portugal, to investigate the abuses perpetrated during the dictatorship that started in May 1926 and ended with the military coup of April 25, 1974. It was proposed by Mário Soares, the former socialist Prime Minister, as a way to fight the resurgence of fascist ideologies. The National Commission on the Disappeared (CONADEP), established in Argentina in 1983, is known as the first truth commission and comparative studies do not recognize the existence of a commission in Portugal. This investigation states, however, that the Commission of the Black Book must be considered a pioneering truth commission in the transitional justice processes of the third wave of democratizations.