Winton was born in London in 1909

 

Winton was born in London in 1909

His life will be very long, 106 years. And certainly not wasted. From a wealthy family (his parents of German origin are Jews who converted to Christianity), as a young man he works as a stockbroker, but in 1938, when the shadow of Nazism spreads over Europe, he drops everything and dedicates himself full time to activities of support for those oppressed by Hitler's militias; in particular he learns of the desperate living conditions in the refugee camps in Czechoslovakia.

He then flies to occupied Prague, and from a hotel in the center he starts the Kindetransport operation: he gathers hundreds of children, mostly Jews, and organizes their journey by train to England; he manages to put together 7 large groups on as many trains, then he also goes out of his way on the internal front, studying the situations of children without documents (the majority) case by case and convincing the English authorities to admit them. An eighth group was supposed to leave on September 3, 1939, but Hitler entered the war and Germany closed its borders; the train with 250 children on board disappeared, never reaching its destination. After all was said and done, between 1938 and 1939, 669 children were saved by Winton.

When he returned to London, he didn't say a word about all this, not even to his family. Only 50 years later, in 1988, his wife Greta discovered an old album with the data of the operation and the documented trips. And she organized a surprise: she invited him to the BBC program "That's Life!", the English surprise Carramba, and there the feat was revealed live, to his great astonishment; which became emotional when they told him that the lady sitting next to him in the audience was one of the saved little girls.

But the highlight was when the presenter asked "Is there anyone else who wants to thank Nicholas?" and the whole audience, “captain my captain”, stands up: yes, they are all “his children”. I will leave aside the long list of honors and awards that will follow; for the series small great emotions.


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