Nicholas Winton

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Sir Nicholas Winton in Prague in October 2007

Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE (born May 19, 1909 in London ; † July 1, 2015 in Slough , Berkshire ) was a British citizen who, shortly before the beginning of World War II, had the rescue of 669 mostly German-born Czechoslovak children of Jewish faith or origin from Organized the Holocaust . This action became known as the Czech Kindertransport . Winton, who himself was of Jewish descent, was often referred to as a "British Schindler ", which he himself did not like.

Life

Nicholas Winton was the child of Rudolf Wertheim and Barbara Wertheim, née Wertheimer, Germans who had converted from Judaism to Christianity and who emigrated to England in 1907. On July 29, 1915, during the First World War, the family changed their name to the English-sounding name Wortham. After their father's death on July 6, 1937, they changed their name again in 1938, from Wortham to Winton. After attending school and doing a banking apprenticeship, Nicholas Winton worked for banks in England, Hamburg ( L. Behrens & Sons ), Berlin ( Deutsche Bank under Oscar Wassermann ) and from 1931 at the Banque Nationale du Crédit in Paris , which later became BNP Paribas . When he returned to London, he worked as a broker .

The rescue of Jewish children

At the invitation of friends, instead of going on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, at Christmas 1938 he visited Prague, which was overrun by refugees after the Sudeten crisis and the occupation of the Sudetenland following the Munich Agreement . Sensitized by his own origins, he tried to help and, on his return to London, at least organize the entry of children. This was made possible after the November pogroms by a British law for children under 17 years of age (Refugee Children Movement). He succeeded in doing this through helpers in Prague and Great Britain, by finding adoptive parents, collecting donations for visas , deposits and travel expenses. The last Kindertransport was planned for September 3, 1939. After the outbreak of war, this train did not take place. Winton, who also did charitable work in old age and was honored with the Order of the British Empire for it, did not speak about his deeds for decades. Even those rescued by Winton knew nothing of his contribution. They believed in the participation of the Red Cross . It was not until his wife in 1988 that he found the relevant material in a suitcase in the attic of the house and made the events public.

death

Winton died on July 1, 2015 at the age of 106 in Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, where he had been admitted a week earlier for worsening health, according to his family on the homepage. He last lived in Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire. The funeral took place in private - just as Winton wanted.

family

Some of "his" children in 2007
Monument to Winton on Prague Central Station

Nicholas Winton was married to the Danish Grete Gjelstrup (1919–1999) from 1948 to 1999. The marriage produced a son and a daughter. Winton also had two grandchildren. In 2014 the daughter Barbara Winton wrote the biography of her father If it's Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton .

Film adaptations

In 1997, Matej Mináč, a Slovak filmmaker, produced the feature film All My Loved Ones , which ends with a scene with Winton. This scene had such a powerful impact that Mináč decided to make a documentary about Winton's life: Nicholas Winton - The Power of Good . The film won the International Emmy Award in the documentary category in 2002 .

2001 visited Charles and Rita Gelman of Ann Arbor ( Michigan , United States ) shortly after September 11, the Czech Republic. There they also met Matej Mináč and saw the film. After that, the Gelmans were convinced that this film should be seen by every American student. Today the Gelman Educational Foundation is giving this film to teachers across North America for free.

In 2011, the film Sir Nicky - Reluctant Hero, was released in the original Nicky's Family. Matej Mináč also directed this documentary.

Petitions for the Nobel Prize

The initiative of Czech pupils resulted in a petition in which high school and middle school pupils called on the relevant bodies of the Norwegian parliament to award Nicholas Winton the Nobel Peace Prize for his services . As of October 9, 2007, the petition had 32,233 signatures. Petitions took place again in 2011 and 2013. In 2013, 212,000 people signed the petition. A count from July 14, 2014 even came to 281,012 signatures. Winton was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008, 2011 and 2013, but did not win it.

Honors

Nicholas Winton lived in Maidenhead , England . He was inducted into the Order of the British Empire in 1983 for his charitable work for the elderly , most notably for founding the Abbeyfield Houses . In the Czech Republic he was awarded the Prague Freedom Prize. On October 28, 1998, Winton received the Masaryk Order from President Václav Havel . On July 5, 2001, an asteroid was named after Winton: (19384) Winton . In December 2002, Winton was of Queen Elizabeth II. For his services to humanity knighted . On October 28, 2014, President Miloš Zeman awarded him the Order of the White Lion , the highest state honor in the Czech Republic.

At the age of 100, Nicholas Winton attended the memorial service in London, where the children had arrived 70 years earlier. On September 4, 2009, the historic train "The Winton Train", in which some of the Holocaust survivors sat, pulled into Liverpool Street Station . She and her children and grandchildren thanked Nicholas Winton personally.

The Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue in Toronto honored Winton in May 2010 with the award “Yakir Hakahal” (A particularly valuable person for the community). Due to his age, his son accepted the award.

On May 19, 2020, on his 111th birthday, Winton was honored with a Google Doodle .

See also

Rescued children:

literature

  • Laura E. Brade, Rose Holmes: Troublesome Sainthood - Nicholas Winton and the Contested History of Child Rescue in Prague, 1938–1940 . In: History & Memory , Vol. 29 (2017), No. 1, pp. 3–40.
  • Susan Poizner: Winton's Wartime Gesture . In: The Jerusalem Report , August 31, 1998.
  • Jana Burešová: Nicholas Winton, Man and Myth: A Czech Perspective , in: Andrea Hammel, Bea Lewkowicz (Ed.): The Kindertransport to Britain 1938/39: new perspectives . Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2012 ISBN 978-90-420-3615-4

Web links

Commons : Nicholas Winton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Brill : A discrete hero - film about the "British Schindler" . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 24, 2011.
  2. ^ "British Schindler" Nicholas Winton died. In: derstandard.at. July 1, 2015, accessed on July 3, 2015 : "He had been described as a hero and a" British Schindler "- the latter an expression with which the humble man could not do much. The Briton Sir Nicholas Winton, who helped save 669 children from Czechoslovakia from the Holocaust, died at the age of 106. "
  3. ↑ Nicholas Winton was a beacon of humanity. In: theguardian.com. July 2, 2015, accessed July 3, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Newspaper advertisement in the London Gazette
  5. ↑ Article in thejewishchonicle with reference to an article by Monica Porte from 2010
  6. ^ Biography at Winton train ( memento of September 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed in January 2011
  7. ^ Report on the film Power of Good ( Memento from June 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Robert D. McFadden: Nicholas Winton, Rescuer of 669 Children From Holocaust, Dies at 106. In: The New York Times , July 1, 2015, accessed July 2, 2015.
  9. ^ Private funeral held for Sir Nicholas Winton In: maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk.
  10. ↑ Sir Nicholas Winton, humanitarian-obituary In: telegraph.co.uk.
  11. ↑ Honor for 'British Schindler' . BBC News, September 26, 2002, accessed February 2, 2019.
  12. ↑ Sir Nicky - Hero against Will In: moviepilot.de.
  13. ↑ Nobelova cena míru per Sira Nicholase Wintona ( Memento of 11 October 2007 at the Internet Archive ) . In: wintonfilm.com (English).
  14. ^ Thousands petition for Sir Nicholas Winton to be given the Nobel Prize .
  15. ↑ Worldwide Petition Update (as of July 14) .
  16. ↑ Nicholas Winton again nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize .
  17. ^ Sir Nicholas Winton: Britain's Schindler honored by the Czech Republic. The Telegraph , Oct. 28, 2014
  18. ↑ British Schindler Nicholas Winton honored. In: dw.de.
  19. ↑ Nicholas Winton - A real hero on Youtube
  20. ↑ Shul honors Czech Kindertransport organizer , The Canadian jewish news
  21. ^ 111th birthday of Nicholas Winton. May 19, 2020, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Winton, Nicholas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Winton, Sir Nicholas; Wertheim, Nicholas (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British citizen, savior of Jewish-Czech children from the Holocaust
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH London , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 2015
Place of death Slough , Berkshire , United Kingdom