49 Facts About Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas George Winton was a British stockbroker and humanitarian who helped to rescue refugee children, mostly Jewish, whose families had fled persecution by Nazi Germany.

In 2003, Nicholas Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to humanity, in saving Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia".

Nicholas Winton was born on 19 May 1909 in Hampstead, London, to Jewish parents Rudolph Wertheim, a bank manager, and Barbara, as the middle of three children.

Nicholas Winton's parents were German Jews who had moved to London two years earlier.

In 1923, Nicholas Winton entered Stowe School, which had just opened.

Nicholas Winton left without qualifications, attending night school while volunteering at the Midland Bank.

Nicholas Winton then went to Hamburg, where he worked at Behrens Bank, followed by Wasserman Bank in Berlin.

Nicholas Winton had hoped to compete in the 1940 Olympics, but the games were cancelled because of World War II.

Shortly before Christmas 1938, Nicholas Winton was planning to travel to Switzerland for a skiing holiday.

Altogether, Nicholas Winton spent three weeks in Prague and left in January 1939, two months before the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.

Nicholas Winton succeeded, thanks to the guarantees he had obtained from Britain.

Nicholas Winton ultimately found homes in Britain for 669 children, many of whose parents perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Nicholas Winton's mother worked with him to place the children in homes and later hostels.

Nicholas Winton wrote to US politicians such as President Franklin D Roosevelt, asking them to take more children.

Nicholas Winton said that two thousand more might have been saved if they had helped, but only Sweden took any besides those sent to Britain.

Nicholas Winton stayed in Prague only about three weeks and left before the Nazis occupied the country.

Nicholas Winton never set foot in the Prague main railway station, although a statue of him is erected there.

Nicholas Winton was promoted to the rank of war substantive flying officer on 17 February 1945, staying in the Air Force after the war.

Nicholas Winton relinquished his commission on 19 May 1954, retaining the honorary rank of flight lieutenant.

Nicholas Winton stood, unsuccessfully, for the town council in 1954; he later found work in the finance departments of various companies.

Nicholas Winton mentioned his humanitarian accomplishments in his election material while unsuccessfully standing for election to the Maidenhead town council in 1954.

Nicholas Winton gave the scrapbook to Elisabeth Maxwell, a Holocaust researcher and wife of media magnate Robert Maxwell.

Letters were sent to each of these known addresses and 80 of "Nicholas Winton's children" were found in Britain.

At one point, Nicholas Winton's scrapbook was shown and his achievements were explained.

Rantzen then asked if anyone present was the child or grandchild of one of the children Nicholas Winton saved, and the rest of the audience stood.

Nicholas Winton was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Winton House, an Abbeyfield Society care home in Windsor, Berkshire, named in his honour.

The Nicholas Winton Cup continued and celebrated its belated 70th anniversary in 2022 due to postponements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicholas Winton's birthday was marked by the publication of a profile in The Jewish Chronicle.

The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, written by his daughter Barbara Winton, was published.

Nicholas Winton died in his sleep from cardiac arrest on the morning of 1 July 2015 at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, having been admitted a week earlier following a deterioration in his health.

Nicholas Winton was cremated and his ashes were buried at Braywick Cemetery in Maidenhead, Berkshire alongside his wife Grete and son Robin.

Nicholas Winton's death came 76 years to the day after 241 of the children he saved left Prague on a train.

Nicholas Winton met the Queen again during her state visit to Bratislava, Slovakia, in October 2008.

In 2003, Nicholas Winton received the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In 2010, Nicholas Winton was named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government.

Nicholas Winton was awarded the Order of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, Fourth Class, by the Czech President Vaclav Havel in 1998.

Nicholas Winton was not declared a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel because only non-Jews who risk their lives to save Jews are eligible for that honor.

The minor planet 19384 Nicholas Winton was named in his honour by Czech astronomers Jana Ticha and Milos Tichy.

In September 2010, another statue of Nicholas Winton was unveiled, this time at Maidenhead railway station by Home Secretary Theresa May, MP for Maidenhead.

Nicholas Winton received the Wallenberg Medal on 27 June 2013 in London.

Nicholas Winton was awarded the Freedom of the City of London on 23 February 2015.

On 1 September 2009, a special "Nicholas Winton Train" composed of one or two steam locomotives and carriages used in the 1930s set off from the Prague Main railway station for London via the original Kindertransport route.

At the train's departure, a memorial statue for Nicholas Winton, designed by Flor Kent, was unveiled at the railway station.

On 28 October 2014, Nicholas Winton was awarded the Order of the White Lion by Czech President Milos Zeman, the Czech Defence Ministry having sent a special aircraft to bring him to Prague.

Nicholas Winton was able to meet some of the people he rescued 75 years earlier, themselves then in their 80s.

On 19 May 2016, a memorial service for Nicholas Winton was held at London's Guildhall, attended by some 400 people, including 28 of those he saved, and Czech, Slovak and UK government representatives.

On 14 July 2017, a memorial garden for Nicholas Winton was opened in Maidenhead Oaken Grove park by Prime Minister and local Maidenhead MP Theresa May.

Nicholas Winton's story was told by David Suchet as part of the 2022 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, which aired on PBS in December 2023.

Winton's work is the subject of three films by Slovak filmmaker Matej Minac: the drama All My Loved Ones, in which Winton was played by Rupert Graves; the documentary The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton, which won an Emmy Award; and the documentary drama Nicky's Family.