[ENG] “Timor” – “o maior campo de extermínio do mundo”, “ the biggest extermination camp in the world”, “la plej granda ekstermejo en la mondo”

[English] [Esperanto] [Bahasa Indonesia] [Português] [Tetun]

Timor - o maior campo de extermínio do mundo = Timor - the biggest extermination camp in the world = Timoro - la plej granda ekstermejo en la mondo is the trilingual title of a book published in Portugal, presented at the Palace of Congresses Le Corum in Montpellier during the World Esperanto Congress in France, on 6 August 1998, and shortly after that launched in Lisbon. The book contains the text of a speech that lawyer and Esperantist Miguel Faria de Bastos made during the World Esperanto Congress in Adelaide, Australia in the summer of 1997.

The book is about the genocide and the repressed right to independence in East Timor after, the 7th of December 1975, the process of decolonization by Portugal was interrupted by the Indonesian government, which later annexed the territory of East Timor. In the lecture itself Faria de Bastos could not give many details, and told mostly facts generally well-known by the entire Portuguese speaking world. In the book, Faria de Bastos added a lot of information in the form of footnotes. The foreword is by José Ramos-Horta, who became in 2002 the first foreign minister of the country and later on its President.

The trilingual book was given to all members of the European Parliament and dignitaries in East Timor, as Xanana Gusmão, the first President of the country, and José Ramos-Horta, its second President. Often Esperantists donated it to Portuguese or English speakers to make the tragedy of East Timor known to people all over the world. Because of this the book to some extent contributed to the independence of East Timor.

Bibliographic information:

Timor - o maior campo de extermínio do mundo = Timor - the biggest extermination camp in the world = Timoro - la plej granda ekstermejo en la mondo, Miguel Faria de Bastos. Lisboa: Associação Portuguesa de Esperanto, 1998, 67 p. Trilingual in Portuguese, English and Esperanto. ISBN 972-9471-34-7. The author was the president of the Portuguese Esperanto Association. The book cover can be seen in Ipernity.