Sir+Nicholas+Winton

 Born May 19, 1909 in his hometown of Hampstead, London England, young Nicholas Winton had no idea what he would grow up to be. Born as a son to German Jewish parents who 2 years before had moved to London, his family converted to Christianity and Winton was baptized. Their family name was Wertheim, but was changed to Winton as an effort at integration. Born during the time of World War II, he had no idea how important he would be in the changing of children’s lives.

EARLY LIFE  “Son of Rudolf Wertheim and Barbara Wertheimer and brother of Charlotte Matilda Winton and Robert Charles Winton” (Sir Nicholas George Winton, www.geni.com), his family was a normal happy family. He grew up with a couple friends but the friend worked with later on in life was Martin Blake. In 1923, Nicholas entered into Stowe School, which had recently opened. While at Stowe he left without graduating and started attending a night school. While attending night school he volunteered his time at the Midland Bank. Then he moved on to Behrens Bank in Hamburg, Germany, then Berlin where he worked at Wasserman Bank. Then he moved to France and worked for the Banque Nationale de Crédit where he also earned a banking qualification. Then returning to London, he became a broker at the London Stock Exchange.

HUMANITARIAN WORK  Shortly before Christmas of 1938, Winton had planned to take a skiing holiday in Switzerland with his friend, Martin Blake. Then Blake, who worked with refugees, suggested that Winton should visit him in Prague to help him with refugees fleeing Hitler’s army. Winton thought how would a 29 year-old stockbroker in the time of World War II be able to help refugees. But he went any ways and what he saw at the refugee camp was very emotional. “He saw thousands of refugees driven out of Sudetenland, a Czechoslovakian area that had recently been taken control of by the Nazi party”(The Nicholas Winton Story, [|www.bradaronson.com]). Winton knew that from what he saw, these people needed help. He decided to act and do something about it. He told the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) that they needed to do “something to help bring children west” (The Nicholas Winton Story, [|www.bradaronson.com]).

But everyone said that there was no organization in Prague that helped bring children west into the UK. He contacted multiple governments for help on the matter, but only England and Sweden agreed to help him. The British government agreed to his bringing of the children into the UK if he could find homes for each child and pay 50 pounds for each child brought in. From March to August of 1939, Nicholas Winton was working as a stockbroker during daytime and a rescuer by night.

 AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS  He found homes for the children and raised money for transportation. He even forged entry fees if the government was moving to slow. And during March and August of 1939, “Nicholas Winton and a few volunteers helped save 669 mostly Jewish Czech children from almost certain death by the Nazi party ”(ADL Honors Sir Nicholas Winton for Actions, archive.adl.org). They were honored for their work and bravery. Nicholas Winton received about 7 international awards and received knighthood as well over the years.

HONORED FOR LIFE  And on October 28, 2014 he was awarded the highest honor of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion. Now as he is 105 years old, we all look back on what he gave to those Czech children. We see how much he risked and sometimes he was willing to break the law to give these children freedom. We all admire and honor him for his courage and bravery.

“Sir Nicholas George Winton.” //Wertheimer Web site//**. Moshe Wertheimer, n.d.** [|**www.geni.com**]**. 8 December. 2014. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Aronson, Brad. “The Nicholas Winton Story.” **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Brad Aronson’s Blog. //**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">“ADL Honors Sir Nicholas Winton for Actions …” **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">archive.adl.org. //**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Anti-Defamation League, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. **

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