The man they call Britain’s Oskar Schindler: Nicholas Winton
Although I have never met him, I have a special respect for the British businessman Nicholas Winton who saved 669 Czechoslovak Jewish children from the Holocaust by organising their evacuation by train from Prague just before the outbreak of the Second World War. I supposed it’s partly because I’m British, partly because so many of my closest friends are Jewish, and partly because my wife is half-Czech so we know the country and its history well.
I have blogged about Winton twice before: here and here. He has been in the news again recently because of his award of the Order of the White Lion in Prague. Today’s “Guardian” newspaper carries an interview with him in which he states:
“I know crowds of people who go to church and the synagogue who aren’t religious. What is needed is something in which they can all believe irrespective of religion, which in most cases, dare I say it, is a facade. We need something else, and that something is ethics. Goodness, kindness, love, honesty. If people behaved ethically, no problem.”
You can read the interview here.
And you can learn more here.