A photo exhibition on the fate of Jewish children whom Sir Nicolas Winton helped escape from the Nazis 70 years ago opened in Prague’s National Museum as a continuation of the Winton Train - Inspiration by Goodness project. The exhibition will last till the end of this year.
At the beginning of September, a historical train with 27 of the Jewish children rescued by Winton, now adults, and their family members left Prague for London to meet their saviour, Sir Winton.
The exhibition entitled Winton Train - Inspiration by Goodness: Child 1939 was prepared by Patricia Ayre and Rosie Potter.
It features 23 photographs of open suitcases with original items that the “Winton children” took with them in 1939 when leaving Prague for London. There are family photos, children’s books, clothing and a prayer book on the photographs.
“The exhibition is dedicated to such extraordinary personality as Sir Winton, but it is also dedicated to the parents of the children who had made a great sacrifice by allowing their children to leave and who thus enabled them to live and become parents and grandparents themselves,” Potter said at the opening ceremony on September 22.
In the past, this exhibition was on display in Manchester and Vienna, and museums in the United States and Mexico have shown interest in it.
Winton trains
Shortly before World War Two broke out, Winton organised the transfer of mainly Jewish kids from the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to Britain. He had to arrange an official permit for their departure, secure their reception by British families and deposit a bail. Winton managed to have eight trains with children dispatched from pre-war Prague from March 14 to August 2, 1939.
Winton, now 100, never drew attention to his deed until a British historian and a Slovak film maker, Matej Minac, did so 20 years ago. Winton was then knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and received high British and Czech decorations.
