Part of my research will look at the way the PIDE was represented in the media, novels, films and documentaries. In the immediate aftermath of the 25 April Revolution, there was a spate of publications from communist and far-left political groups, ususally recounting the memories of the victims of the PIDE. The representations of the PIDE made in these publications have had a lasting effect on the collective memory of the PIDE in Portugal.
One such publication was the comics-book series, Dossier PIDE/DGS, of which two issues (‘Na teia da PIDE’ and ‘Métodos Hediondos’) were published by the Edições Acropole in 1975. In it, PIDE agents were shown primarily as torturers of pregnant women or regular consumers of pornography and prostitution, in an effort to highlight their moral hypocrisy. There was no doubt an element of demonization in such representations, as the PIDE became the overriding symbol of Salazarist oppression.
A History of the PIDE 'from below' 