Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

21 Elul 5769 - September 10, 2009 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

OBSERVATIONS

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

POPULAR EDITORIALS

HOMEPAGE

 

Produced and housed by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS
Kindertransport Survivors Reenact Journey from Prague

By R. Hoffner

Seventy years after an operation to save 669 Jewish children from the clutches of the Nazis on the eve of World War II, 22 Holocaust survivors and many family members reenacted the four-day rail and ferry journey from Prague via Germany and Holland to Britain on what came to be known as the Winton Train. Upon arrival in London, accompanied by a throng of reporters and guests, they were greeted on the platform by Nicholas Winton, the British Jew who organized the nine trains of children 70 years ago.

"It's wonderful to see you all after 70 years," said Winton, shaking their hands as they stepped off the train. Winton, who recently turned 100, is sometimes referred to as the "British Oskar Schindler."

Before the journey the train passengers took part in an unveiling ceremony for a memorial in Winton's honor at the Prague train station.

When some of the survivors asked why they had been chosen, Winton replied, "Because you would have been the first to be killed by the Nazis."

Otto Deutsch, 81, who lives in Southend, England, says he remembers his escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia very vividly. "I never saw my parents again or my sister. My parents were shot and what they did with my sister I really don't want to know."

Before boarding the vintage train Hana Franklova, 78, said she was anticipating a very moving experience.

Winton, who was a 29-year-old stockbroker just before the war broke out, traveled to Prague to help a friend involved in Jewish refugee assistance organizations in the Czech capital. Recognizing the extent of the danger to the country's Jews he launched an effort to transport Jewish children to countries that would agree to harbor them.

Following Kristallnacht, Britain agreed to accept Jewish refugees under the age of 17 if they could prove foster homes could be found and a 50-pound guarantee was arranged to cover their return fare when conditions became suitable. Winton located homes for hundreds of children by placing newspaper ads and did fundraising to provide the guarantees.

The ninth train, with 250 children on board, was scheduled to depart on September 3, the day Britain declared war on Germany following the invasion of Poland. German did not permit the train ride and most of the children perished, Hy"d.

Winton kept his efforts secret, but in 1988 his wife came across a scrapbook containing a detailed listing of the children saved, their parents and the families that adopted them.

In 2002 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and last year the Czech government nominated him as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2005 Winton visited Israel, where he met with a number of "his children" who had settled in Eretz Yisroel.

 

All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.