Sir Nicholas Winton and the Escape of 669 Children

I am going to talk about Nicholas Winton, he is credited with saving the

lives of 669 children, most of them Jews, by organizing their escape
from what was then Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. In 1938,
Nicholas Winton was a 29-year-old British stockbroker. He was preparing
to take a skiing vacation, but a friend who was aiding Jewish refugees
convinced Winton to join him.
That is a resumen of one interview made to Alicia Master, she is one
woman that was one of 669 children.

Jews in Czechoslovakia then were facing increased hostility and danger.

So Winton helped to organize eight trains full of Jewish children that
would head to England. Winton told very few people about his
humanitarian work, not even his wife knew. But 50 years later, she
discovered a scrapbook of the names and photos of children, and she let
the world know his story.

She was just 14 years old when her parents decided to send her and her
two sisters away from then Czechoslovakia aboard one of the trains
organized by Winton.
Her uncle wrote to her parents and urged them to get out if possible,
but if they cannot get out, he told them to at least send the children
away. They lived in a very small village in the eastern part of Slovakia,
and people didn't expect that anything would happen there. And all her
parents' friends told them you are making a terrible mistake. Nothing is
going to happen here, but her parents listened to what her uncle said
and sent them on the transport.

Czechoslovakia was occupied in March 1939, so they lived under the

occupation for a few months.

And after 50 years, one of the Kindertransports - children - arranged a

reunion in London. Five hundred children turned up for this reunion and
that's where we met Winton. He came to the reunion and this is the first
time any of us knew about his existence.

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