25 interesting facts about Sir Nicholas Winton

Google celebrates the 111th birthday of British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton on May 19, 2020. Google doodle illustration shows children at a train station that describes the escape of Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia just before World War II.

Facts about Nicholas Winton

1. Nicholas Winton was born Nicholas George Wertheimer on 19 May 1909 in London. He was the child of Jewish German parents, and the family changed their name from Wertheim to fit in.
2. Sir Nicholas Winton was married to Grete Gjelstrup on 31 October 1948.
3. Nicholas Winton is a British humanitarian who saved numerous Jewish kids from the Holocaust.
4. Just before World War II began, he helped devise a plan to save 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1939.
5. His activity is known as Czech Kindertransport and the kids distinguished as ‘Winton Children.’
6. The British press celebrated him and named him the “British Schindler.”
7. Nicholas Winton worked at Behrens Bank and Wasserman Bank in Berlin before moving to London and becoming a stockbroker.
8. Sir Nicholas Winton was working as a stockbroker in London when his companion rang him from Czechoslovakia asking for his assistance.
9. At the point when Nicholas Winton came back to England from Czechoslovakia, he frequently worked late at night on his plan. He formed a committee, which comprised of himself, his mom, a few volunteers, and a secretary.
10. Sir Nicholas Winton reached the governments of a few nations to inquire as to whether they would take the children. Just the UK and Sweden said that they would help.
11. The first group of children left Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939. They traveled to the UK, albeit 7 different groups traveled via train and boat across Europe and the English Channel.
12. Nicholas Winton didn’t tell anybody outside of the committee what he had done, until after the war.
13. His wife found a scrapbook with all the details, and 1988 he discussed his accomplishment on TV.
14. Today, the protected children call themselves ‘Winton’s Children’, and they frequently visit his home to thank him.
15. Further groups of children were scheduled to leave on September first, 1939 yet they were stopped by the German attack of Poland.
16. Sir Nicholas Winton was delegated a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his work establishing Abbeyfield homes for the older in 1983.
17. Nicholas Winton praised his 100th birthday celebration by flying in a little plane piloted by the girl of one of the rescued boys.
18. Sir Nicholas Winton was depicted by Rupert Graves in the 1999 film All My Loved Ones.
19. In September 2009, a special Winton train traveled from Prague to London.
20. Sir Nicholas Winton has been awarded the OBE and the Pride of Britain Award. There is a Czech school named after him, as well as a small planet.
21. Winton got the Wallenberg Medal on 27 June 2013 in London.
22. On 28 October 2014, he was awarded the highest honor of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion (first class), by Czech President Miloš Zeman.
23. Nicholas Winton was awarded the Freedom of the City of London on 23 February 2015.
24. Sir Nicholas Winton passed on from respiratory failure on 1 July 2015 in Slough, Berkshire, aged 106.
25. On 19 May 2020, Google respected Sir Nicholas Winton’s legacy and celebrated what might have been his 111th birthday celebration with a doodle.