For something even more uplifting and downright
inspirational this week we submit the 2011 Czech documentary “Nicky’s Family.”
Sir Nicholas Winton is living proof the good don’t always
die young. Through ingenuity, bravery and persistence as a 29-year-old Winton left
his banking job in England
to rescue hundreds of Jewish children in imminent peril as the Nazis tightened
their grip on Czechoslovakia
in early 1938.
“This old man saved my life,’ marveled survivor Joe
Schlesinger. “I knew nothing about him or that he even existed. He insisted it
was nothing to make a fuss about.”
“Nicky’s Family” amounts to 669 Czech children spirited away
under the very noses of the Nazis and relocated with British foster families. Winton
had to work fast. He began in March of 1938 and by Sept. 1 World War II had
broken out, ending his diplomatic efforts. “Nicky’s Family” blends dramatic
recreations with real vintage movies, newsreels and photographs of the
inexorable march of Hitler’s armies over Europe, including the horrific blitz
that pounded London
and its innocent civilians.
Amazingly, Sir Nicholas is still alive at age 103. This film
is a series of testimonies from the great (The Dalai Lama) to the merely grateful
survivors who owe their lives to his selflessness. If there ever were a
‘righteous gentile” it is Sir Nicholas Winton.
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