Sir Nicholas Winton

FURTHER UPDATE

DATE: 9th September 2024

On September 3rd, 2024, a recently constructed and long awaited link between the Prague Districts of Letná and Holešovice was officially opened. The new street which connects Veletržní Street and Dělnicka Street, is named after Sir Nicholas Winton and in the Czech language is written as "Nicholase Wintona" street and is located in Holešovice, Prague 7.

The symbolism of this street is that it runs past Bubny railway station from where tens of thousands of Jewish families were transported to Theresienstadt during the war. The naming of this street in Winton's honour, further re-enforces the legacy of his heroic actions, which saved many children who were transported to Great Britain pre-1939 on the Winton trains.

The date of the opening of the street was chosen to commemorate the start of WW2. The last "Winton train" left Prague on September 1st, 1939 but regrettably, never arrived in Great Britain.

Please see below for more information on the story of Sir Nicholas Winton.

The story of Sir Nicholas Winton has been given additional traction and publicity following the release of the film "One Life" with Winton being played by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

In summary, Nicholas Winton, together with others, including some very brave Czech people, saved 669 children, (mainly Jewish), from Prague, (ahead of the invasion of Czechoslovakia but the Nazi regime), by arranging for them to be transported to England and placed with foster families.

My summary does not do justice to the heroism, hard work against seemingly impossible odds, and humanitarian efforts of Nicholas Winton and his mother who managed things in England, (obtaining visa's, finding sponsor families and sourcing funds), in England, and his friends and colleagues, supporting the operation in Prague. However, since this amazing story has become public, the story is now well documented and further details of this amazing achievement can be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Winton; Nicholas Winton: https://www.nicholaswinton.com/ and many other sites.

The international train service on which the children were transported arrived and departed from Platform 1 at Praha Hlavaní Nádraží, the main railway station in Prague and this platform is shown in the attached photos.

The photographs I have included show:

• The memorial statue to Sir Nicholas Winton at the main railway station in Prague (Praha Hlavaní Nádraží) which can be found on Platform 1;
• Praha Hlavaní Nádraží station itself and Platform 1;