Czechs honor Briton who saved Jewish kids from Nazis - Haaretz

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Thu., October 11, 2007 ,

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Czechs honor Briton who saved Jewish kids from Nazis

By The Associated Press

PRAGUE - A Briton who helped hundreds of Jewish children avoid being sent to Nazi concentration camps from Czechoslovakia received the country's highest military decoration yesterday.

Sir Nicholas Winton, 98, was awarded the Cross of Merit of the 1st class by Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova for saving 669 Czechoslovak children from death by organizing a train transport from Prague to London at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

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"I am completely overwhelmed that should happen to me for something I did before most of you were born," Winton said during a ceremony at the defense ministry.

In all, eight trainloads carried the mostly Jewish children through Hitler's Germany to Britain.

The youngsters were sent to foster parents - mostly in England, a small number in Sweden.

Winton's story did not emerge until 1988 when his wife found correspondence referring to the prewar events. In 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised Sir Nicholas Winton as the United Kingdom's Oskar Schindler.

Winton was awarded another top Czech decoration, the Tomas Garrigue Masaryk Order, in 1998.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said yesterday he planned to nominate Winton for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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