obituaries

'The British SchindleR-

Masterminded escape of hundreds of Jewish children.

I Jerusalem Post

p

rime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu on July 2 mourned
the loss of Nicholas Winton, the
man who became known as the "British
Schindler" for saving hundreds of Czech
children from Nazi persecution in the
run-up to World War II. Winton died at
the age of 106 on July 1, 2015.
"The Jewish people and the State of
Israel owe an eternal debt of gratitude to
Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds
of Jewish children from the Nazis,"
Netanyahu stated.
"In a world plagued by evil and indif-
ference, Winton dedicated himself to
saving the innocent and the helpless:'
the prime minister added. "His extraor-
dinary moral leadership serves as an
example to all of humanity."
Netanyahu sent his condolences to
Winton's surviving family.
Winton managed to bring 669 mostly

Jewish children on eight trains to Britain
through Germany in 1939, but the ninth
train with 250 children never left Prague
because the war broke out. None of the
250 children on board was ever seen
again.
Winton had worked as a stockbroker
before heading to Prague in 1938 to help
with welfare work for Czech refugees
and was 29 when he masterminded the
rescue of the children.
His achievements were often com-
pared with those of Oskar Schindler,
the ethnic German industrialist who
saved the lives of 1,200 Jews during the
Holocaust and who was the subject of
the 1993 film Schindler's List.
Winton's wartime exploits, however,
remained a secret for years until his
wife, Greta, found a detailed scrapbook
in their attic in 1988.
He had not even told her of his role.
"You can't come up to somebody and
say: 'By the way, do you want to know

Nicholas Winton

what I did in '39?' People don't talk
about what they did in the war," Winton
told Reuters Television in 2009.
Over the years, Winton's work had

been recognized with various awards
and with a small planet discovered by
Czech astronomers named in his honor.
He had also been commended by the
U.S. House of Representatives, which
said it "urges men and women every-
where to recognize in Winton's remark-
able humanitarian effort the difference
that one devoted, principled individual
can make in changing and improving
the lives of others!'
The Rotary Club quoted from a 1939
letter in which Winton had written:
"There is a difference between passive
goodness and active goodness, which is,
in my opinion, the giving of one's time
and energy in the alleviation of pain and
suffering.
"It entails going out, finding and
helping those in suffering and danger
and not merely in leading an exemplary
life in a purely passive way of doing no
wrong."

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62 July 9 • 2015

Obituaries

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