Nicholas Winton was born with the surname Wertheim, in London, 19th May, 1909, of German/Jewish parents. He died aged 106, on 1st July 2015.
In 2003, Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to humanity”, in saving Jewish children from Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia.
(The following information comes from Queensferry Gazette archives and also www.independent.co.uk
www.powerofgood.net/story.php
www.theholocaustexplained.org, wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Winton,
also old Queensferry School Records as recorded by Dr John Mason, Headmaster).
In 2003, Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to humanity”, in saving Jewish children from Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia.
(The following information comes from Queensferry Gazette archives and also www.independent.co.uk
www.powerofgood.net/story.php
www.theholocaustexplained.org, wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Winton,
also old Queensferry School Records as recorded by Dr John Mason, Headmaster).
Just before the start of the Second World War, Nicholas Winton rescued 669 children from Czechoslovakia, most of them Jewish, from their doomed fate in the Nazi death camps. The world found out about his work over 50 years later, in 1988 when his wife found an old briefcase in the attic, and found lists of children and letters from their parents. He hadn’t even told her of his role in the war. He featured on “That’s Life” a programme hosted by Esther Rantzen in 1988.
How it Began for Nicolas Winton
In 1938, aged 29, Winton, a Stockbroker, received a phone call from his friend Martin Blake, who was in Prague as an associate of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, then in the process of being occupied by Germany, asking him to cancel his skiing holiday and immediately come to Prague: "I have a most interesting assignment and I need your help. Don't bother bringing your skis." When Winton arrived, he was asked to help in the camps, in which thousands of refugees were living in appalling conditions. He was only there for a few months but was alarmed by the numbers of refugees arriving, endangered by the imminent Nazi invasion.
He recognised the advancing danger and he courageously decided to try to get the children outside the reach of Nazi power. He began to organise the rescue of Czech Jewish children. Winton built up biographies of children whose parents had asked him to take them to safety. He placed advertisements of these children in England seeking families to take them in.
He persuaded the Home Office to let the children in, but they would only take unaccompanied children, under the age of 17 years. For each child he had to find a foster parent and a £50 guarantee to be deposited at the Home Office, in those days a small fortune, to pay for their eventual return home. The assumption the children would be able to return home to their families on mainland Europe when the violence had blown over would ultimately prove a tragic underestimation of the Nazi threat.
He persuaded the Home Office to let the children in, but they would only take unaccompanied children, under the age of 17 years. For each child he had to find a foster parent and a £50 guarantee to be deposited at the Home Office, in those days a small fortune, to pay for their eventual return home. The assumption the children would be able to return home to their families on mainland Europe when the violence had blown over would ultimately prove a tragic underestimation of the Nazi threat.
Between March and August 1939, Winton sent eight train loads of children to safety in Britain. Once in England they were placed with the families that had pledged their support. The last train load of children left on August 2, 1939, bringing the total of rescued children to 669. It is impossible to imagine the emotions of parents sending their children to safety, knowing they may never be reunited, and impossible to imagine the fears of the children leaving the lives they knew and their loved ones for the unknown.
A final train carrying 251 children was due to leave Prague on 1 September 1939. It never left the station. The German army had invaded Poland and Germany had closed all borders. World War 2 had begun. The children got off the train and returned to their parents. Many were subsequently murdered in the Holocaust. Only two survived the war.
A final train carrying 251 children was due to leave Prague on 1 September 1939. It never left the station. The German army had invaded Poland and Germany had closed all borders. World War 2 had begun. The children got off the train and returned to their parents. Many were subsequently murdered in the Holocaust. Only two survived the war.
"OPERATION KINDERTRANSPORT"
The word ‘Kindertransport' is used to describe the large scale transportation by train of thousands of endangered, mostly Jewish, children from Austria and Germany to Great Britain in 1938 and 1939 (Kinder means children in German). The same term became used for the Czech and Slovak rescue of endangered children which was organised in 1939 by Nicholas Winton with the help of Trevor Chadwick and other volunteers both in Prague and London.
This action was initiated in response to Kristallnacht (“the Night of the Broken Glass”), which saw 267 synagogues razed, 91 Jews murdered and 30,000 people rounded up to be taken to Nazi concentration camps on the night of 9 November 1938.
On December 2nd, 1938, Jewish and Christian agencies began a huge humanitarian undertaking rescuing German and Austrian Jewish children on Kindertransporten (children's transports). The "Refugee Children's Movement," a group under the auspices of the Central British Fund for German Jewry or CBF (which later became the World Jewish Relief organization), urged concerned Christians and Jews to support "Operation Kindertransport."
An extensive fund-raising effort was organized and the British public responded generously, raising half a million British pounds in six months. A large portion of this money was used to care for the children who were rescued.
Between December 1938 and May 1940, almost 10,000 Jewish children (infants to teenagers) from Germany and Austria were rescued from certain death in the Holocaust and given shelter at farms, hostels, camps, and in private homes in Britain. Altogether some 60,000 Jewish refugees arrived in Britain seeking asylum, with around 50,000 settling permanently and the remainder subsequently relocating to North America, Australia or the newly formed state of Israel.
This action was initiated in response to Kristallnacht (“the Night of the Broken Glass”), which saw 267 synagogues razed, 91 Jews murdered and 30,000 people rounded up to be taken to Nazi concentration camps on the night of 9 November 1938.
On December 2nd, 1938, Jewish and Christian agencies began a huge humanitarian undertaking rescuing German and Austrian Jewish children on Kindertransporten (children's transports). The "Refugee Children's Movement," a group under the auspices of the Central British Fund for German Jewry or CBF (which later became the World Jewish Relief organization), urged concerned Christians and Jews to support "Operation Kindertransport."
An extensive fund-raising effort was organized and the British public responded generously, raising half a million British pounds in six months. A large portion of this money was used to care for the children who were rescued.
Between December 1938 and May 1940, almost 10,000 Jewish children (infants to teenagers) from Germany and Austria were rescued from certain death in the Holocaust and given shelter at farms, hostels, camps, and in private homes in Britain. Altogether some 60,000 Jewish refugees arrived in Britain seeking asylum, with around 50,000 settling permanently and the remainder subsequently relocating to North America, Australia or the newly formed state of Israel.
Kindertransport monument at Liverpool Street Station. A project established by the Association of Jewish Refugees, it pays tribute to those Britons who aided the rescue of 10,000 Jewish children from the Nazi persecution which led onto the holocaust. Image: Reproduced under Wikimedia Creative Commons License.
Nicolas Winton worked independently of "Operation Kindertransport", setting up his own rescue operation. He received many acknowledgements for his humanitarian work. He also received a ring given to him by some of the children inscribed with a line from the Talmud, the book of Jewish Law, it said, “Save one life, save the World”. Rescued children, many of the Grandparents, still refer to themselves as “Winton’s Children”.
Memorial of Nicholas Winton, the saviour of 669 jewish children from former Czechoslovakia; located in Prague Main railway station, installed 2009-SEP-01, sculptor Flor Kent (her other sculpture “Für Das Kind Kindertransport Memorial” was installed in the Liverpool Street station, September 2003). Image: reproduced under Wikimedia Creative Commons License.
So What is Queensferry’s Connection?
While there were already some Czech refugee families in Queensferry, a total of 21 children aged up to 17 years, either through Nicholas Winton, or "Kindertransport", came to Queensferry from Czechoslovakia, in April 1939, on route to Canada, perhaps via the "Scottish Childrens Council for Refugees", Edinburgh.
The children were given accommodation at Butlaw, the former WWI Naval Hospital at Port Edgar, (which was turned into a holiday camp for unemployed families, mainly from the West, after the war,) and they enrolled into Queensferry School on April 19th.
The headmaster, Dr Mason (who founded Queensferry Museum) undertook the education of all but the infants, as he had some knowledge of the German language. Miss Graham was in charge of the infant division. Friendships were built with the local people who helped where needed, entertained and even issued invites to tea.
It was noted in the records that the Czech children were learning wonderfully well. The director of education examined the children and he expressed appreciation at the work done by the children.
The children were given accommodation at Butlaw, the former WWI Naval Hospital at Port Edgar, (which was turned into a holiday camp for unemployed families, mainly from the West, after the war,) and they enrolled into Queensferry School on April 19th.
The headmaster, Dr Mason (who founded Queensferry Museum) undertook the education of all but the infants, as he had some knowledge of the German language. Miss Graham was in charge of the infant division. Friendships were built with the local people who helped where needed, entertained and even issued invites to tea.
It was noted in the records that the Czech children were learning wonderfully well. The director of education examined the children and he expressed appreciation at the work done by the children.
As an expression of their gratitude, and with the help of local refugees, one named Mr Wurzl, (who was befriended by a local family), the children built a model of the outlook tower at Schonfeld near Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia, in the school garden. It is believed it may have been destroyed when Queensferry Primary School was built on the grounds. However it is also may have been lifted and transferred to the garden of the Janitor. Its whereabouts today are unknown.
On May 6th the school records say “a casket, containing a scroll and some Czech and British coins, was built into the model today”.
May 12th: “The model in school garden finished today. A medal and an address in German were presented to the builder, in presence of the pupils of advanced division and Czech children”.
May 16th: “Some Czech children visited Edinburgh today, the headmaster was present with them”.
May 20th: “Some children left for Canada today”.
May 25th: “Five Czech children taken to Broxburn School for dental treatment”
June 5th: “Some Czech children left for Culloden House, Inverness”.
May 12th: “The model in school garden finished today. A medal and an address in German were presented to the builder, in presence of the pupils of advanced division and Czech children”.
May 16th: “Some Czech children visited Edinburgh today, the headmaster was present with them”.
May 20th: “Some children left for Canada today”.
May 25th: “Five Czech children taken to Broxburn School for dental treatment”
June 5th: “Some Czech children left for Culloden House, Inverness”.
It is unknown what happened to most of these children. The intention was they would be returned home after the war, but this was impossible. Many of the parents perished in the concentration camps. Some of the children stayed on in Canada and have family there now.
A few of the Adult refugees who went to Canada, kept in touch with the families who befriended them in Queensferry.
A few of the Adult refugees who went to Canada, kept in touch with the families who befriended them in Queensferry.
© Queensferry History Group 2019