Nicholas Winton: The British Hero Who Rescued Children from Nazi-Occupied Czechoslovakia

Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker, organized the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton’s work, later known as the “Kindertransport,” saved these children from almost certain death in concentration camps.

Winton was initially on holiday when he was called to Prague to help with a refugee effort. When he saw the escalating danger, he set up an office in his hotel room and began arranging transport for children, finding them foster homes in Britain. Using his own resources and with the help of a small group of volunteers, Winton forged documents, convinced governments to issue visas, and organized the safe passage of hundreds of children to England.

Winton kept his efforts quiet for over 50 years. His heroism was only discovered in the 1980s when his wife found a scrapbook detailing the names of the children he had saved.

Quotes:

1.  “I wasn’t heroic. I was never in danger, but if you get in danger, you’ve got to do something about it.”
2.  “If something is not impossible, then there must be a way to do it.”
3.  “I did what I could because it was the right thing to do.”

In 2002, Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his humanitarian work. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 106, but his legacy lives on in the lives of the children—and now their descendants—whom he saved.

It’s not important what someone looks like or where they come from. What matters is the content of their character and the goodness of their heart ~ Nicholas Winton

The true measure of a person’s character is not what they do when others are watching, but what they do when no one is watching.

Nicholas Winton