A British man who saved 669 children, most of them Jews, from the Nazis is to receive the Czech Republic's highest state honour.
Sir Nicholas Winton was 29 when he arranged trains to take the children out of occupied Czechoslovakia and for foster families to meet them in London.
Now 105, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he felt proud that he had "made a difference to a lot of people".
He will receive the Order of the White Lion at a ceremony in Prague later.
Sir Nicholas, who lives in Maidenhead, Kent, was born in May 1909.
He did not tell anyone about his actions for 50 years, until his wife found a scrapbook.
He was knighted by the Queen in March 2003 and a year earlier was finally reunited with hundreds of the children he saved - including Labour peer Lord Dubs and film director Karel Reisz - at a gathering for 5,000 descendants of the "Winton children".
His efforts have been likened to the work of German businessman Oskar Schindler, whose saving of Jews was dramatised in the film Schindler's List.
When asked what he made of today's world, Sir Nicholas responded: "I don't think we've ever learnt from the mistakes of the past...
"The world today is now in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been and so long as you've got weapons of mass destruction which can finish off any conflict nothing is safe any more."
Sir Nicholas Winton honoured by Czechs for saving children from Nazis
28 October 2014
BBC News
Sir Nicholas's actions to save Jews from the Nazis remained little known until the 1980s
A British man who saved 669 children, most of them Jews, from the Nazis is to receive the Czech Republic's highest state honour.
Sir Nicholas Winton was 29 when he arranged trains to take the children out of occupied Czechoslovakia and for foster families to meet them in London.
Now 105, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he felt proud that he had "made a difference to a lot of people".
He will receive the Order of the White Lion at a ceremony in Prague later.
'No fear'
The remarkable mission of the man dubbed the "British Schindler" only came to light in the late 1980s.
His involvement in the rescue began in 1938 after the Nazi occupation of the disputed territory of the Sudetenland.
Having visited refugee camps outside Prague, he decided to help children secure British permits in the same way children from other countries had been rescued by Britain's "kindertransports".
At the time he was a stockbroker in London and being from a German Jewish family he said he was well aware of the urgency of the situation.
"I knew better than most, and certainly better than the politicians, what was going on in Germany. We had staying with us people who were refugees from Germany at that time. Some who knew they were in danger of their lives," he told Today.
But he said he was not afraid to help: "There was no personal fear involved."
Sir Nicholas organised a total of eight trains from Prague to London and helped to find foster families for the refugees.
He said he was aware that many children would have died if it had not been for his actions, but added: "That's what was happening all over Europe."
A ninth train - the largest, carrying 250 children - was prevented from leaving by the outbreak of war. None of those children is believed to have survived.
Passion for planes
BBC Prague correspondent Rob Cameron said Sir Nicholas enjoyed "a life of relative obscurity" in England but in the Czech Republic he was "treated with enormous gratitude and respect".
Sir Nicholas was working as a stockbroker when he got involved in helping children come to Britain
The Czech defence ministry has sent a special plane to take Sir Nicholas to Prague so President Milos Zeman can award him the Order of the White Lion in a ceremony at Prague Castle.
Sir Nicholas will make a short speech and meet some of the people he rescued 75 years ago - themselves now in their 80s - before flying home.
Our correspondent said the RAF veteran, who has a passion for planes, accepted the flight invitation on condition that he be allowed into the cockpit.
Sir Nicholas, who lives in Maidenhead, was born in May 1909.
He did not tell anyone about his actions for 50 years, until his wife found a scrapbook.
'We haven't learnt'
He was knighted by the Queen in March 2003 and a year earlier was finally reunited with hundreds of the children he saved - including Labour peer Lord Dubs and film director Karel Reisz - at a gathering for 5,000 descendants of the "Winton children".
His efforts have been likened to the work of German businessman Oskar Schindler, whose saving of Jews was dramatised in the film Schindler's List.
When asked what he made of today's world, Sir Nicholas responded: "I don't think we've ever learnt from the mistakes of the past...
"The world today is now in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been and so long as you've got weapons of mass destruction which can finish off any conflict nothing is safe any more."
BBC News - Nicholas Winton honoured by Czechs for saving children from Nazis
Sir Nicholas Winton was 29 when he arranged trains to take the children out of occupied Czechoslovakia and for foster families to meet them in London.
Now 105, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he felt proud that he had "made a difference to a lot of people".
He will receive the Order of the White Lion at a ceremony in Prague later.
Sir Nicholas, who lives in Maidenhead, Kent, was born in May 1909.
He did not tell anyone about his actions for 50 years, until his wife found a scrapbook.
He was knighted by the Queen in March 2003 and a year earlier was finally reunited with hundreds of the children he saved - including Labour peer Lord Dubs and film director Karel Reisz - at a gathering for 5,000 descendants of the "Winton children".
His efforts have been likened to the work of German businessman Oskar Schindler, whose saving of Jews was dramatised in the film Schindler's List.
When asked what he made of today's world, Sir Nicholas responded: "I don't think we've ever learnt from the mistakes of the past...
"The world today is now in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been and so long as you've got weapons of mass destruction which can finish off any conflict nothing is safe any more."
Sir Nicholas Winton honoured by Czechs for saving children from Nazis
28 October 2014
BBC News
Sir Nicholas's actions to save Jews from the Nazis remained little known until the 1980s
A British man who saved 669 children, most of them Jews, from the Nazis is to receive the Czech Republic's highest state honour.
Sir Nicholas Winton was 29 when he arranged trains to take the children out of occupied Czechoslovakia and for foster families to meet them in London.
Now 105, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he felt proud that he had "made a difference to a lot of people".
He will receive the Order of the White Lion at a ceremony in Prague later.
'No fear'
The remarkable mission of the man dubbed the "British Schindler" only came to light in the late 1980s.
His involvement in the rescue began in 1938 after the Nazi occupation of the disputed territory of the Sudetenland.
Having visited refugee camps outside Prague, he decided to help children secure British permits in the same way children from other countries had been rescued by Britain's "kindertransports".
At the time he was a stockbroker in London and being from a German Jewish family he said he was well aware of the urgency of the situation.
"I knew better than most, and certainly better than the politicians, what was going on in Germany. We had staying with us people who were refugees from Germany at that time. Some who knew they were in danger of their lives," he told Today.
But he said he was not afraid to help: "There was no personal fear involved."
Sir Nicholas organised a total of eight trains from Prague to London and helped to find foster families for the refugees.
He said he was aware that many children would have died if it had not been for his actions, but added: "That's what was happening all over Europe."
A ninth train - the largest, carrying 250 children - was prevented from leaving by the outbreak of war. None of those children is believed to have survived.
Passion for planes
BBC Prague correspondent Rob Cameron said Sir Nicholas enjoyed "a life of relative obscurity" in England but in the Czech Republic he was "treated with enormous gratitude and respect".
Sir Nicholas was working as a stockbroker when he got involved in helping children come to Britain
The Czech defence ministry has sent a special plane to take Sir Nicholas to Prague so President Milos Zeman can award him the Order of the White Lion in a ceremony at Prague Castle.
Sir Nicholas will make a short speech and meet some of the people he rescued 75 years ago - themselves now in their 80s - before flying home.
Our correspondent said the RAF veteran, who has a passion for planes, accepted the flight invitation on condition that he be allowed into the cockpit.
Sir Nicholas, who lives in Maidenhead, was born in May 1909.
He did not tell anyone about his actions for 50 years, until his wife found a scrapbook.
'We haven't learnt'
He was knighted by the Queen in March 2003 and a year earlier was finally reunited with hundreds of the children he saved - including Labour peer Lord Dubs and film director Karel Reisz - at a gathering for 5,000 descendants of the "Winton children".
His efforts have been likened to the work of German businessman Oskar Schindler, whose saving of Jews was dramatised in the film Schindler's List.
When asked what he made of today's world, Sir Nicholas responded: "I don't think we've ever learnt from the mistakes of the past...
"The world today is now in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been and so long as you've got weapons of mass destruction which can finish off any conflict nothing is safe any more."
BBC News - Nicholas Winton honoured by Czechs for saving children from Nazis
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