Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE is deservedly on the SGWT advent calendar due to his role in saving the lives of 669 children from Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia.
Nicholas was born on 19 May 1909 in London, to German Jewish parents, Rudolph and Barbara. The family name was Wertheim, but it was anglicized in a bid to integrate. They also converted to Christianity, and Winton was baptised.
His school education was not illustrious despite the institutions he went to, however, he went on to pursue work in banking in Hamburg, Paris and later back in London. He became a broker at the London Stock Exchange. Though a stockbroker, Winton was also an ardent socialist.
Shortly before Christmas 1938, Winton was planning to travel to Switzerland for a skiing holiday, however, friends had called him asking for help in assisting at risk Czech children from Nazi persecution. Winton spent three weeks in Prague setting up a system to get children evacuated.
Alongside a few volunteers including his mother, they worked tirelessly to arrange everything the children needed, including finding host families in the UK and raising funds to cover the travel expenses of the children.
He wrote to all manner of European politicians, urging them to take child refugees and to make the process of paperwork and finance easier.
He also wrote to U.S. politicians such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, asking them to take more children. He said that two thousand more might have been saved if they had helped, but only Sweden took any besides those sent to Britain. The last group of children, scheduled to leave Prague on 1 September 1939, was unable to depart. With Hitler's invasion of Poland on the same day, the Second World War had begun and of the 250 children due to leave on that train, only two survived the war.
Winton always acknowledged the vital roles in Prague of Doreen Warriner, Trevor Chadwick, Nicholas Stopford, Beatrice Wellington, Josephine Pike and Bill Barazetti as those that played key roles in getting children out of Prague.
His humanitarian accomplishments remained unknown and unnoticed by the world for nearly 50 years until 1988 when he was invited to the BBC television programme That's Life!, where he was reunited with dozens of the children he had helped come to Britain and was introduced to many of their children and grandchildren.
If you haven’t seen this clip, please google it, it is a heartbreakingly wonderful moment that can’t fail to bring a tear to the eye.
He was to become known as the "British Schindler". He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to humanity, in saving Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia". In 2014, he was awarded the highest honour of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion (1st class), by Czech President Miloš Zeman.
Directly Nicholas with the help of others of course, saved 669 children from Nazi persecution. Who knows how many live now because of his efforts. He encouraged others not to give up the fight. He must remembered as a truly great man, that served to save others.