THE MAN WHO RESCUED A GENERATION
SIR NICHOLAS WINTON
Born in London in 1909 as Nicholas George Wertheim. His parents were German Jews who had moved to England. The family changed their name to Winton and became Christians, which was common among immigrants who wanted to fit in. He worked as a stockbroker in London, and was a comfortable man with a normal life before the war.
In December 1938, Winton was about to leave for a ski trip in Switzerland before a friend asked him to help in Prague, where many people had fled the Nazi takeover of the Sudetenland. Winton saw that thousands of refugees, many of whom were Jewish, were stuck in danger. He went to work right away. Over the next several months, he found families in Britain willing to take in children, arranged the paperwork, and got the children safely out of the country.
His rescue operation saved 669 children, most of them Jewish. Many of their parents were later killed in the Holocaust, so for those children the rescue was the difference between life and death. Winton kept his list of names quiet for almost fifty years. He never asked for credit, and he did not tell even his wife about his work until much later. In 1988, his wife found his old files in their attic, and the story came out after he appeared on the BBC show "That's Life!"
He received recognition late in life; knighted in 2003 for his services to humanity. He lived to 106 and died in 2015. His story has inspired films, a play, and a statue at a railway station in Prague. He could only save children who had visas and a family to take them in, so most of the children's parents were left behind. Some children were separated from their parents for good. Winton's work was made possible by his privilege as a wealthy, well-connected Londoner. Many other refugees had no such access and many lost their lives; however, without him, 669 children would not have been saved.
365 men who changed the world.
Kamikun John, Author 366 days of wisdom.
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