Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicolas Winton

(Nicky Winton with a Czech Refugee between 1938 and 1939 and Winton later in life.)

Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE –  Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Recipient – was born with the German Last Name of Wertheim on May 19, 1909 in London, England.

His Parents were German Jews who moved to England in 1907 (2 years before he was born.) They anglicized their Last Name to Winton and were Baptized into the Church of England.

Winton became a Stockbroker and worked in Banks in Hamburg and Berlin, Germany in the 1920s, in Paris, France in 1931 and then on the London Stock Exchange in England.

At School, he had become an outstanding Fencer, fencing both foil and épée, and was selected for the British Olympic Team in 1938, but the Olympics were cancelled because of World War II.

In December 1938 he went to Prague, Czechoslovakia to help the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC) – which was run by British, Canadian and Czechoslovak Volunteers trying to help the Refugees (Jewish and Non-Jewish) fleeing Nazi Germany, Nazi Austria and the Nazi-Occupied Sudetenland Region of Czechoslovakia.

Seeing how the Men, Women and Children lived in squalor and dire conditions (including outside in the snow and cold) Winton went back to London in January 1939 to see about getting help from the British Government.

In November 1938, following Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany and Austria , the British  House of Commons approved a measure to allow the entry into Britain of Refugees younger than 17, provided they had a place to stay and a Warranty of £50 (equivalent to £3,397 British Pounds or $4,422 US Dollars in 2024 ) was deposited per Person for their eventual return to their own Country.

With the British Government allowing the Children in Winton had to figure out how to get the Netherlands to open their borders since they had to take a ferry from the Netherlands to the United Kingdon and the Netherlands had closed its Border to Jewish Refugees after Kristallnacht in November 1938.

Eventually, the Dutch allowed the Refugee Children to transit through Holland on their way to the UK.

Winton and his Mother worked hard from London to get all the necessary Sponsors, Money and Visas while other Members of the BCRC worked on the ground in Free Czechoslovakia and from March 1939 until September 1939 in Nazi-Occupied Czechoslovakia.

After the Nazis Occupied all of Czechoslovakia (including Prague) the Germans now required every Jew fleeing whether from Germany, Austria or Czechoslovakia and whether Children or Adults to pay The Reich Flight Tax (German: Reichsfluchtsteuer) in order to be given the Exit Permits needed to leave.

Winton placed the pictures of the Refugee Children in Newspapers across the UK so that Ordinary People could “pick” which one they wanted to Host and while most couldn’t afford the £50 per Person Warranty Winton found the money from others who could afford it.

Winton also wrote the US President Franklin Roosevelt to get his help in having Children go to the US, but FDR never replied back to him.

While Winton and the BCRC did get 669 Children out from Nazi Controlled Land the last Train of 250 Children that was scheduled to leave Prague on September 1, 1939 were stopped by the Nazis because the Germans had just invaded Poland and expected the UK to declare War on Germany – which they did on September 3, 1939.

Of the 250 Children that were taken off that train only 2 survived the Holocaust.

The vast majority of the 669 Children that did make it to the United Kingdom on the Kindertransport were forced to flee again after the Nazis started the Blitz and Bombing of British Cities. Most of the Children never saw their Parents or other Relatives ever again – they were murdered by the Germans in the Holocaust.

Once the Kindertransport Program ended Winton joined the British Red Cross until he joined the Royal Air Force in 1940 in its Administrative and Special Duties Branch.

He went from an Aircraftman to a Sergeant to an Acting Pilot Officer to a Pilot Officer to a Flying Officer in February 1945.  He left the Royal Air Force in 1954.

Also after the War Winton worked for the International Refugee Organization and then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Paris, where he met Grete Gjelstrup, a Danish Secretary, whom he married in 1948.

They had 3 Children. The youngest of whom – Robin -  had Down’s Syndrome (but stayed in the Winton’s House instead of going to an Institution as was customary at the time.) Robin died of Meningitis the day before his 6^th Birthday.

Winton’s work on the Kindertransport went unnoticed decades until 1988 when his Wife found a detailed scrapbook in their attic, containing lists of the Children, including their Parents' names and the names and addresses of the Families that took them in.

He gave the scrapbook to Elisabeth Maxwell, a Holocaust Researcher and Wife of media magnate Robert Maxwell.

He then appeared on the British Show “That’s Life” where his scrapbook was shown as were some of the Children – now Adults – that he had saved.

In the 1983 Birthday Honours, Winton was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in establishing the Abbeyfield homes for the Elderly in Britain; and, in the 2003 New Year Honours, he was Knighted for services to humanity, in recognition of his work on the Czech Kindertransport.

Winton was awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Fourth Class, by the Czech President Václav Havel in 1998.

His Wife, Grete, died in 1999.

In 2003, Winton received the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In 2008, he was honored by the Czech Government in several ways. An elementary school in Kunžak is named after him, and he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Minister of Defence, Grade I.

The Czech Government nominated him for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.

To celebrate his 100th Birthday in 2009 Winton flew over the White Waltham Airfield in a microlight piloted by Judy Leden, the Daughter of one of the Boys he saved.

 In 2010, Winton was named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government.

Winton received the Wallenberg Medal in 2013.

In October 2014, Winton was awarded the Order of the White Lion (Class I) by Czech President Miloš Zeman.

Winton was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in February 2015.

Winton was not declared a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel due to the Yad Vashem Policy, which states that only Non-Jews who risked their lives in order to save Jews are to be declared Righteous Among the Nations.

Nicholas Winton died on July 1, 2015 at the age of 106.