Nicholas Winton

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Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas Winton in Prague in October 2007
Born May 19, 1909 (1909-05-19) (age 99)
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Occupation Humanitarian

Sir Nicholas George Winton, MBE (born 19 May 1909) is a Briton who organised the rescue of about 669 mostly Jewish Czech children from their doomed fate in the Nazi death camps before World War II in an operation known as the Czech Kindertransport.

Winton's family origins were Jewish, but his parents converted to Christianity and subsequently baptised and raised him as a Christian. Consequently, Nicholas Winton has never been designated a member of the Righteous Gentiles at Yad Vashem by Israel, not being a "Gentile". However, Winton is not perturbed by this situation and does not view his activities as anything extraordinary.[1] He kept his humanitarian exploits under wraps for many years until after his late wife Greta found a detailed scrapbook in the attic in 1998.[2]

Sir Nicholas was awarded a knighthood in the New Year's honours list published on 31 December 2002.[3][4]

Winton's work is the subject of two films by Czech filmmaker Matej Mináč: the drama All My Loved Ones (Vsichni moji blízcí) (1999)[5] in which Winton was played by Rupert Graves; and the documentary The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton (Síla lidskosti - Nicholas Winton) (2002), which won an Emmy Award.[6]

Winton was nominated by the Czech government for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.[7]

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Persondata
NAME Winton, Nicholas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Humanitarian
DATE OF BIRTH 1909-5-19
PLACE OF BIRTH United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH