Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE born Wertheim 19 May 1909 1 July 2015 was a British stockbroker and humanitarian who helped to rescue Jewish children who were at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust Born to GermanJewish parents who had immigrated to Britain at the beginning of the 20th century Winton assisted in the rescue of 669 children most of them Jewish from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II On a brief visit to Czechoslovakia he helped compile a list of children needing rescue and returning to Britain he worked to fulfill the legal requirements of bringing the children to Britain and finding homes and sponsors for them This operation was later known as the Czech Kindertransport German for childrens transport His humanitarian accomplishments remained unknown and unnoticed by the world for nearly 50 years until 1988 when he was invited to the BBC television programme Thats Life where he was reunited with dozens of the children he had helped come to Britain and was introduced to many of their children and grandchildren The British press celebrated him and dubbed him the British Schindler In 2003 Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to humanity in saving Jewish children from Nazioccupied Czechoslovakia In 2014 he was awarded the highest honour of the Czech Republic the Order of the White Lion 1st class by Czech President Miloš Zeman Winton died in 2015 aged 106 source wikipedia org wiki NicholasWinton