Sir Nicholas Winton RIP

Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 Jewish children from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazi regime, died peacefully in his sleep this week at the age of 106.

A young stockbroker in London in 1938 he dropped everything to go to occupied Prague to help refugees escape. He had to fight Nazi bureaucracy on the continent and the inertia of British bureaucracy to get refugees in to Britain without always having documents, but he was successful.

Sir Nicholas, a very modest man, kept quiet for decades about the action he took in organising eight trains to evacuate Jewish children to Britain from occupied Czechoslovakia, but when the news came out he was knighted and widely praised for his actions.

Former Labour MP  Lord Dubs, one of the children who Sir Nicholas rescued, described him 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 added.

David Cameron paid tribute to Sir Nicholas, tweeting:

"The world has lost a great man. We must never forget Sir Nicholas Winton's humanity in saving so many children from the Holocaust."

Daniel Taub, Israel's ambassador to the UK, said:

"He was a hero of our time, having saved 669 Jewish children from the Nazi regime. His legacy, as a point of light in an era of darkness, will forever be remembered".

Indeed, all those who had met him spoke of Sir Nicholas in the most glowing terms of praise: obituary notices and eulogies are often full of such praise, much of it justified, but in this case it certainly seems that the praise was particularly deserved.

A short BBC obituary article can be seen here.

Rest in Peace

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