"Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong. Be prepared every day to try to do some good."
Even today when you mention the name “Nicholas Winton” you are often greeted with the response: “Who?” It’s shocking that most people haven’t even heard of someone who I would contend is one of our greatest living heroes. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, are alive today who would not be were it not for his actions. They will go on to have children, and their children will go on to have children – all thanks to Nicholas Winton. It shocks me that we are not taught routinely about his actions in school as part of the History curriculum (of which World War Two plays a large part.) What’s more, he never spoke of his actions until they were revealed on “That’s Life” in 1988.
So, what did he do? Nicholas Winton was a 29-year-old stockbroker in 1938. After visiting a friend in Prague who was involved in helping Jewish refugees, Winton established an organisation to help Jewish Czechoslovakian children at risk from the Nazis. He wrote to several governments, eventually persuading the UK government to take Jewish children from Europe, provided they had somewhere to stay and a £50 warranty to return them to their home country. He wrote letters and advertisements and eventually found homes for 669 children, working as a stockbroker by day and running his rescue mission in the evenings.
(It is worth noting that he also wrote letters to US Senators, many of whom, he said, wrote back with various excuses as to why they couldn’t help. In 1939 the Wagner-Rogers bill, which sought to permit 20,000 Jewish children to enter the United States was defeated. The USA eventually admitted fewer children than the UK. I mention this because, had the US listened to Winton and followed the UK’s example of relaxing immigration rules potentially thousands more could be saved. The US is always keen to celebrate its role in bringing World War Two to an end – and rightly so. It is also a great supporter of Israel and, with a large Jewish population. But on this occasion, in 1939, the USA made a grave error that cost many lives.)
Winton, initially a conscientious objector but eventually conscripted into the Air Force, where he served with distinction, is extraordinarily modest, and kept his role secret for many years. I have heard that he was devastated that the final kindertransport, in September 1939, was stopped following the outbreak of war, and that he felt he had delivered the children to the Nazis and to their eventual deaths. But I have been to Prague, where the walls of the Pinkas Synagogue are covered with the names of holocaust victims – over 80,000 of them. Thanks to Nicholas Winton, there are 669 names missing from that chilling memorial.
This clip, from That’s Life, never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Everybody should watch it, if only for the look on his face when people get to their feet. I hope that Nicholas Winton is proud of what he achieved, that he looks at people in the street and wonders: “is that person here because of me?” I am glad he was finally knighted in 2002, and I hope that one day everyone will know his name, and appreciate the enormity of his actions. I hope that he is happy.
I don't often write serious or sentimental posts, and steer away from the biographical as it inevitably results in people pointing out the bits you missed or got wrong, but I am making an exception because I want to do even what little I can to make just one or two people aware of this great man and the great role he played in one of the most horrific periods in our history. I've visited Prague, and I've been to Auschwitz. I have many Jewish friends whose existence I cherish. In 2002 I met Hermann Hirschberger MBE, who came to Britain with the Kindertransport, and was deeply affected by his story. Winton himself once told a class of schoolchildren: "Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong. Be prepared every day to try to do some good." He definitely did that.
Sir Nicholas, if you are reading this, you are a truly extrordinary man, and I send you all my love, respect and gratitude. God bless you.
So, what did he do? Nicholas Winton was a 29-year-old stockbroker in 1938. After visiting a friend in Prague who was involved in helping Jewish refugees, Winton established an organisation to help Jewish Czechoslovakian children at risk from the Nazis. He wrote to several governments, eventually persuading the UK government to take Jewish children from Europe, provided they had somewhere to stay and a £50 warranty to return them to their home country. He wrote letters and advertisements and eventually found homes for 669 children, working as a stockbroker by day and running his rescue mission in the evenings.
(It is worth noting that he also wrote letters to US Senators, many of whom, he said, wrote back with various excuses as to why they couldn’t help. In 1939 the Wagner-Rogers bill, which sought to permit 20,000 Jewish children to enter the United States was defeated. The USA eventually admitted fewer children than the UK. I mention this because, had the US listened to Winton and followed the UK’s example of relaxing immigration rules potentially thousands more could be saved. The US is always keen to celebrate its role in bringing World War Two to an end – and rightly so. It is also a great supporter of Israel and, with a large Jewish population. But on this occasion, in 1939, the USA made a grave error that cost many lives.)
Winton, initially a conscientious objector but eventually conscripted into the Air Force, where he served with distinction, is extraordinarily modest, and kept his role secret for many years. I have heard that he was devastated that the final kindertransport, in September 1939, was stopped following the outbreak of war, and that he felt he had delivered the children to the Nazis and to their eventual deaths. But I have been to Prague, where the walls of the Pinkas Synagogue are covered with the names of holocaust victims – over 80,000 of them. Thanks to Nicholas Winton, there are 669 names missing from that chilling memorial.
This clip, from That’s Life, never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Everybody should watch it, if only for the look on his face when people get to their feet. I hope that Nicholas Winton is proud of what he achieved, that he looks at people in the street and wonders: “is that person here because of me?” I am glad he was finally knighted in 2002, and I hope that one day everyone will know his name, and appreciate the enormity of his actions. I hope that he is happy.
I don't often write serious or sentimental posts, and steer away from the biographical as it inevitably results in people pointing out the bits you missed or got wrong, but I am making an exception because I want to do even what little I can to make just one or two people aware of this great man and the great role he played in one of the most horrific periods in our history. I've visited Prague, and I've been to Auschwitz. I have many Jewish friends whose existence I cherish. In 2002 I met Hermann Hirschberger MBE, who came to Britain with the Kindertransport, and was deeply affected by his story. Winton himself once told a class of schoolchildren: "Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong. Be prepared every day to try to do some good." He definitely did that.
Sir Nicholas, if you are reading this, you are a truly extrordinary man, and I send you all my love, respect and gratitude. God bless you.
posted by RLS at 7:28 pm
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