We Remember Sir Nicholas Winton
USC Shoah Foundation is sad to learn of the passing of Sir Nicholas Winton, the organizer of the Czechoslovakian Kindertransport and one of the most beloved rescuers of the Holocaust. Winton was 106 years old.
Winton, a British stockbroker, organized the safe transport of 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to Britain before the outbreak of World War II. Eight trains in total carried children from Prague to Britain, where local families took them in. Most of the children’s parents were later killed at Auschwitz. Winton’s death falls on the 76th anniversary of his largest single transport: 241 children on one train.
However, his heroic actions were not known publicly until 1988, when his wife Grete found his scrapbook with documents and names of rescued children from the war in their attic. From then on, he was nicknamed “the British Schindler,” and was knighted by the Queen in 2003. He also reunited with with many of the children he saved – now grown and with children and grandchildren of their own. It is estimated that 6,000 people in the world are alive today because of his actions.
“Nicholas Winton” is an indexing term in the Visual History Archive and is mentioned in 11 testimonies. In September 2013, Winton recorded his testimony for the Visual History Archive, interviewed by USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith, in the UK.
Winton’s daughter Barbara wrote a book about her father called If It’s Not Impossible…The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, out now. The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles hosted a book signing for Winton in November 2014 and Smith invited her to visit the Institute and learn more about the Visual History Archive.
Barbara Winton said it was wonderful to see the testimonies in the Visual History Archive and learn about how they are being used in schools around the world. Her father always talked about how important it is to not just keep historical materials but to use them to change the world today.
Sir Nicholas was also emphatic that people understand that genocides are still happening today, Winton said during her visit.
He still spoke to students regularly and delivered a simple message: Don’t let small differences outweigh the similarities that all people share.
“He always says the same thing: Why do people have to be separated by religion instead of focusing on what connects us and what is the same in all religions?” Winton said. “Let’s forget about what makes us different.”