Early life Samuel Szwarc was born in
Zgierz,
Poland, on 12 February 1880, the first of ten eventual sons. His youngest brother was Polish-French painter and sculptor
Marek Szwarc. Samuel studied at a
cheder and a
Jewish high school in his youth. From 1896 to 1897 Samuel studied at the
École nationale des arts décoratifs, eventually transferring to the
École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris in 1898. In 1917 Schwarz's professional work as a mining engineer and his interest in crypto-Judaism led him to Belmonte in Portugal's northern
Trás-os-Montes region. He undertook archaeological excavations and restoration work of the synagogue, proposing the building become the Portuguese Jewish Museum of Tomar (
Museu Luso-Hebraico de Tomar). Schwarz donated the building on 27 July 1939 to the Portuguese government on the condition it be turned into a museum. In return Schwarz and his wife Agatha were granted Portuguese citizenship, protecting them and their daughter Clara during the
Holocaust. Since 1939 the building has functioned as the
Abraham Zacuto Portuguese Jewish Museum (
Museu Luso-Hebraico Abraão Zacuto). Though Samuel, Agatha, and Clara remained safe in Portugal during the Holocaust and
World War II, they lost relatives on both the Szwarc and Barbasch sides of the family. Samuel's then-octogenarian father Isucher was killed in 1939 when anti-Semites invaded and burned the family home and library in Zgierz. One of Samuel's siblings and a nephew died at an
extermination camp. Samuel tried without success to get some relatives to live in Portugal: the Portuguese government denied his requests to allow them to settle, though they transited through Lisbon en route to
London in June 1940. The surviving Szwarcs settled in various places, including
Israel, after the war.
Later life Samuel founded the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Portugal (
Câmara de Comércio Polaca em Portugal) in 1930, serving as its president for some time. In that capacity he traveled to
Funchal,
Madeira, to welcome the Polish
training ship ORP Iskra on 18 March 1932. He was also a member of the
Portuguese Order of Engineers and the Association of Portuguese Archaeologists (
Associação dos Arqueólogos Portugueses), the latter since 1921. Schwarz published various books and articles on Jewish themes in Portuguese throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Notable works include the books
Cântico dos Cânticos (1942),
Anti-semitismo with
Leon Litwinski (1944),
A Tomada de Lisboa segundo um documento coevo da Biblioteca Nacional (1953),
A Sinagoga de Alfama (1953), and the posthumous
História da Moderna Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa (1959), as well as a 1946 series of articles published in the magazine
Ver e Crer (
Seeing and Believing), which included the articles "O Sionismo no reinado de D. João III" ("Zionism during the reign of King
João III"), "Origem do nome e da lenda do Preste João da Índia" ("Origin of the name and legend of
Prester John of
India"), and "Quem eram os emissários que D. João II mandou em busca do Preste João?" ("Who were the emissaries King
João II sent in search of Prester John?"). He also remained involved in mining engineering, in 1936 writing a brochure for the Portuguese Directorate of Mines titled
Arqueologia mineira: extrato dum relatório acerca de pesquisas de ouro (
Mining archaeology: an extract regarding searches for gold). Later in life Schwarz suffered from ill health, ultimately preventing him from visiting his surviving brothers, nieces, nephews, and other relatives who had settled in Israel and elsewhere. ==Death and legacy==