'Britain's Schindler' nominated for Nobel Prize

[Kyt]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../nczech111.xml

A 98-year-old British knight is to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize almost 70 years after he saved hundreds of Jewish children from death in Nazi concentration camps.

The announcement was made as Sir Nicholas Winton was given a hero's welcome in Prague, from where he plucked the children to safety.

In an emotional ceremony attended by some of the – now elderly – boys and girls he rescued, he was also awarded the Czech Republic's top military honour.

"Everyone, whether they were children, adults or elderly, was in tears," said Alice Klimova, who was on one of the eight trains that ferried a total of 669 children to safety in Britain as war broke out in 1939.

In an extraordinary operation run first from a Prague hotel room and then from London, Sir Nicholas raised money and found foster families for each child, organising trains to cross from Czechoslovakia through Nazi Germany all the way to Liverpool Street Station in London.

He kept the details of his effort secret for decades, only revealing his role 20 years ago when his wife found letters in their attic that detailed the arrangements and listed the children.

He has since been dubbed "Britain's Schindler" after the German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who also saved Jewish children and whose story was made famous in Schindler's List.

In Prague this week, Sir Nicholas remained as humble as ever, despite the nationwide campaign in the Czech Republic to see him honoured with a Nobel Prize.

"I sent a letter today to the selection committee," said the Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, who presented a list of tens of thousands of signatures from Czech schoolchildren backing the Nobel bid.

But Sir Nicholas, who lives in Maidenhead, described a Nobel Prize as "something that is quite out of my category".

[Kyt]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/ma...5/fmresc15.xml

3 page article/interview with him from 2003

[Ron Goldstein]

Originally Posted by Kyt

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/ma...5/fmresc15.xml

3 page article/interview with him from 2003

In January this year I had the pleasure of listening to Sir.Nicholas Winton being interviewed at our local Synagogue.
A more modest or self effacing man I will never see and it was indeed a pleasure to meet him. The picture shows the packed hall that had gathered to listen and pay him honour.

Ron

[Kyt]

It is good to see that, not only is he going strong, but, he is finally being recognised for his great work. I would love to attend one of his appearances.

Thank you for the photo, Ron

[Ron Goldstein]

Originally Posted by Kyt

It is good to see that, not only is he going strong, but, he is finally being recognised for his great work. I would love to attend one of his appearances.

Thank you for the photo, Ron

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[Kyt]

Ron,

I was rechecking the system, and I think our paths crossed. I made a change at the same time as you were trying to post the picture. So the system hadn't quite caught up. I am hoping it will work now.

Sorry

[Kyt]

Czech PM decorates WWII children rescuer - Prague Daily Monitor - 27.06.2008

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek presented Nicholas Winton, the British who saved several hundreds of Czechoslovak Jewish children before World War Two, with a honorary plaque at the close of Winton's three-day visit to the Czech Republic Thursday.

Topolanek praised the modesty with which Winton has helped other people all his life long.

"I'd like the story to be heard by Czech children as well," Topolanek told journalists.

Winton, 99, said, smiling, that he was immensely moved by the appreciation, which he said was perhaps even more difficult for him to cope with than when he helped the children in the past.

Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova said the interest the Czechs have shown in Winton's story proves that "people long for good."

Winton said in the present world it is difficult to believe that "optimists win," but he is convinced that it is impossible to live otherwise.

Winton said that before World War Two he was among the Britons who disapproved of Britain signing the Munich Agreement, along with Germany, Italy and France, under which Czechoslovakia had to cede its border regions to the Nazi Germany in autumn 1938.

After the press conference Thursday, Winton went to Prague's hotel Praha where his child-rescue action started before the war.

In the future, a plaque commemorating his deed is to be unveiled in the hotel.

On Tuesday, Winton toured the Klet observatory in south Bohemia, where the scientists had discovered a new asteroid to be named after Winton.

Elsewhere in south Bohemia, Winton met primary school pupils who want a Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to him.

Shortly before the war broke out in 1939, Winton saved 669 children when he organised train transports from Prague to Britain for them.

He had to secure permits for the departure for all children from Germans and entry permits from British authorities and admission to British families. Most of the Jewish children who stayed in Czechoslovakia ended in concentration camps.

Those saved, 16 of whom live in the Czech Republic, have about 5,000 offspring altogether.

Winton visited the Czech Republic last autumn to attend the Forum 2000 conference of world personalities, thinkers and intellectuals and met with local politicians.

He is the holder of several British and Czech awards.