Holocaust 'hero' Sir Nicholas Winton dies aged 106

Rest in peace, Sir Winton -- you've earned it.

Holocaust 'hero' Sir Nicholas Winton dies aged 106

Sir Nicholas Winton, who organised the rescue of 669 children destined for Nazi concentration camps, has died aged 106. Sir Nicholas, then a stockbroker, arranged for trains to carry Jewish children out of occupied Prague. The prime minister described him as a "great man" and the chief rabbi praised his "exceptional courage".

Many of those children are still alive and expressed their love, gratitude, and profound esteem for their hero:

As a six-year-old, former Labour MP, Lord Dubs, was one of the children who was put on a train out of Czechoslovakia He paid an emotional tribute to his rescuer as "just one of those very special human beings" "The real fact is that he was a man who saved my life and a lot of us who came on the Kindertransport owe him an enormous debt. "His legacy is that when there is a need for you to do something for your fellow human beings, you have got to do it," he said.

The Washington Post has more of Lord Dubs' stories -- and other children's stories here:

The incredible true story of the ‘British Schindler’ and the 669 children he helped save

Dubs developed an early interest in politics and eventually became a British member of parliament. “I was trying to work out what had happened to me and came to the conclusion that if evil can cause so much harm perhaps other people could reverse the harm,” he told Times & Star. Dubs called Winton “a great man” and “without him it is pretty unlikely that I would have survived. I had to assume that what happened to my uncle and aunt would have happened to me.”

I don't want to argue with the Lord, but I would say Sir Winton's greatest legacy are the many people -- like Lord Dubs -- who were made better people by the love, courage, and selflessness of Sir Winton... and these many people make the world a better place each in their own way.



A couple ATS threads about Sir Winton from years past:

Sir Nicholas Winton - the man who saved 669 Jewish children from the Nazi death camps

Man Rescued Over 600 Jewish Kids from Nazi Camps.


ETA: Another article with a quote from Sir Winton:

'British Schindler' Nicholas Winton who saved 669 children from Nazis dies

His efforts were only revealed in 1988 when his wife Grete found documents in the attic of their home.

"There are all kinds of things you don't talk about, even with your family," he said in 1999. "Everything that happened before the war actually didn't feel important in the light of the war itself."