Women of the resistance
Helena Cabeçadas
b. 1947
Watched by the PIDE from the age of 12, she was active in the secondary-school students’ association movement. Arrested in 1965 and expelled from every school in the country, she went into exile alone, in Belgium, at 17.
- Born
- 1947, Lisbon
Biography
She was born in Lisbon in 1947, the great-niece of Admiral Mendes Cabeçadas and the daughter of an anti-Salazar Catholic. She had been watched by the PIDE since the age of 12. At 14 she followed the 1962 academic crisis, and in the 1962–1963 school year she joined the Pro-Association Committee of the secondary schools (liceus) and the PCP.1
She was arrested in 1965: questioned — says the Aljube Museum’s record — by the rector of the University, sent to the Civil Government building and held in Caxias. She was prevented from finishing her last year of secondary school and was expelled from every school in the country.1
Forced into exile, she left alone for Belgium at 17 and lived there for ten years. She remained committed to the anti-fascist struggle, worked with Portuguese emigrants and graduated in Social Sciences (Anthropology) from the Free University of Brussels. In 1968 she was in Paris, where she lived through May ’68; that year she broke with the PCP. Her exile ended with 25 April.1
People
They crossed paths with her
Aida Magro
1918–2011 · chemical engineer
Albina Fernandes
1928–1970 · fighter in the French Resistance
Alda do Espírito Santo
1926–2010 · poet
António Tereso
1927–2017 · car mechanic
Aurora Rodrigues
b. 1952 · estudante de Direito
Cesina Bermudes
1908–2001 · obstetrician
Videos
Helena Cabeçadas tells the Aljube Museum about the student association movement in the secondary schools (liceus), the academic crisis of 1962, which she lived through at 14, and her arrest in 1965, when she was taken to the Civil Government building and to Caxias. Expelled from every school in the country, she left alone for exile in Belgium at 17.
Original page Licença padrão do YouTube — embed permitido pelo canal oficial do Museu do Aljube
Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade, on YouTube. The player only connects to that site when you press “Watch”.
Notes on the sources2
- Which secondary school she attended: the Aljube Museum’s record mentions the Liceu D. Filipa de Lencastre and the Liceu Rainha D. Leonor, without saying which.
- Who questioned her in 1965: “the rector of the University”, according to the Aljube Museum’s record. She was then at secondary school (liceu), and the liceus were also headed by a “reitor” (rector); which of the two is meant has not been confirmed in another source.
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Sources1
- 1Helena Cabeçadas. Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade — consulted on 2 October 2026