What does the word “hero” mean to you? To me, without a doubt, it signifies honour, it resonates strength from a true heart, and most of all the courage to take a stand for what is right, often at the stake of your own life.
Sir Nicholas Winton to me is without a doubt a true hero.
A 29 year old British Humanitarian, Winton, organised the rescue operation that saved 669 children, the majority being Jewish from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia the night before World War Two started. An operation, know as Kindertransport.
I am just going to let that sink in for just a second. This man saved so many lives because to him, despite what seemed to be dangerous, impossible odds, it was the right thing to do. Inspirational doesn’t even give it justice.
Had Winton’s original holiday plan happened just before Christmas of 1938, he would have been skiing across the mountains of Switzerland. However he chose to go and help Martin Blake, who was based in Prague, as an associate of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia. Upon being in Prague, he selflessly single-handedly organised a humanitarian aid to children whose families were at risk by the Nazi regime.
November 9-10, 1938 – Saw the Kristallnacht – a series of deadly coordinated attacks against Jewish people in Nazi Germany and Austria. This horrific event sadly saw many Jewish people killed, and Jewish shops, synagogues and homes destroyed. Following the Kristallnacht, the British Government’s House of Commons allowed sanctuary for refugees under the age of 17, as long as they had accommodation and £50 was deposited for their return to their country once the war had ended.
Winton saw the opportunity he needed. The Nazi regime may have been strong in force, but the will to survive was stronger.
The biggest issue facing this operation was crossing the Netherlands. The Dutch Government whilst knowing of the horrors that had happened at Kristallnacht, closed their borders to any Jewish refugee and the border guards, Marechausees were detaining any Jewish persons found and returning them sadly to their imminent death.
In order to get these children across the Netherlands and safely into Britain, Winton needed to do whatever necessary to create safe passage, this meant forging travel documents and bribes. This however successfully saw 669 children arrive into refuge. Winton and his mother then worked tirelessly to find homes and families for these now orphaned children, whose parents would have surely perished in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. This whilst, a momentous challenge, ultimately was achieved. Winton did also try to get a train with 250 children onboard across, but unfortunately this train did not make the journey and sadly these poor children perished.
I honestly can’t begin to imagine the feeling and emotion that both Winton and these children felt. The fear and unknowing would have been gut-wrenchingly horrendous and as I write this, I truly feel for everyone involved in such a horrific event. Their courage and will to survive is heroic.
The year is now 1988, 50 years had passed and Winton had not uttered a single word about his heroic endeavor. His silence was deafening, he wanted no recognition and no celebration. To him, it was simply an act of humanity that needed to be done. While cleaning the attic, his wife, Grete Gjelstrup, found letters and detailed lists of the children saved and his heroic effort.
The British tabloids dubbed him as the “British Schindler” and the world really discovered the efforts of Winton on the BBC program – That’s Life, which aired a particular episode in 1988. Winton was invited as an audience member and whilst watching, his scrapbook listing all the saved children was shown by the host, and he suddenly found that more than 2 dozen people that surrounded him, were who he had saved, they rose up and everyone applauded.
This was absolutely beautiful, the tears shed by the survivors, Winton and myself were all very real and finally 50 years after, Sir Nicholas Winton would see the love and respect shown to him for such a noble and courageous effort.
October 28, 2014 saw the highest honour, The Order of The White Lion awarded to Winton from Czech Republic by the Czech president, Milos Zeman.
July 1st 2015 – Sir Nicholas Winton passed away at the age of 106. The date of his death marked 76 years to the day after 241 children he saved left Prague on a train.
I cannot begin to tell you how emotional I became writing this. His bravery and courage to save innocent people at a time when the world seemed to be splitting at the seams is inspiring. To feel how he and the survivors felt knowing that their lives were spared and their freedom granted is hard to grasp.
A ring was given to Winton by some of the children he saved and inside it bore an inscription from the Talmud, the book of Jewish law.
“Save one life, save the world.”
Ranter & Banter 