Kindertransport - Nicholas Winton

Nicholas Winton

Before Christmas 1938, 29 year old British stockbroker of German-Jewish origin, Nicholas Winton was about to fly to Switzerland for a ski vacation when he decided to travel to Prague instead to help a friend who was involved in Jewish refugee work. He established an organisation to aid Jewish children from Czechoslovakia separated from their families by the Nazis, setting up an office at a dining room table in his hotel in Wenceslas Square. Winton found homes for 669 children. Winton's mother also worked with Winton to place the children in homes, and later hostels, with a team of sponsors from groups like Maidenhead Rotary Club and Rugby Refugee Committee. Throughout the summer he placed advertisements seeking British families to take them in. The last group, which left Prague on 3 September 1939, was sent back because the Nazis had invaded Poland, marking the start of the Second World War.