Nick Winton: Inheriting Moral Clarity

What does it mean to grow up in the shadow of an extraordinary father — one whose secret acts of heroism saved 669 mostly Jewish children from the Holocaust, yet never spoke a word of it to his family? In this episode of TO BE CONTINUED... host Rabbi Jeff Salkin sits down with Nick Winton, son of Sir Nicholas Winton, the quiet, unassuming British stockbroker who, beginning in late 1938, organized the rescue of hundreds of mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Over the course of several months, he arranged eight transports from Prague to Great Britain — until September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the borders closed, and a ninth train carrying 250 children never left the station.  The story remained hidden for 50 years, until Nick's mother discovered a dusty scrapbook in 1988. Nick reflects on learning of his father's legacy as an adult, the weight of carrying such an inheritance, and the question at the heart of this conversation: if second-generation survivor descendants inherit trauma, do children of rescuers inherit moral responsibility? Nick Winton grew up near Maidenhead, England. He graduated from Imperial College Business School, London. After brain tumor surgery and with a five-year prognosis, Nick earned his MBA. Nick Winton is now an international speaker, storyteller, and company adviser. His stories are inspired by his father. Nick now channels his legacy and personal stories into powerful speeches that inspire change. TRANSCRIPT: This episode is generously sponsored by Karen and George Goldberg in honor of their children and three grandchildren who are all descendants of Karen's mom, Ilona Medwied, a Holocaust survivor and the inspiration for this podcast. Also in honor of George's dad, Staff Sergeant Frederick Goldberg of the U.S. Army Air Force, who flew 35 missions as a B-17 side gunner, fighting the Nazis. We often speak about children of Holocaust survivors inheriting trauma. As our first guest, Elizabeth Rosner, had put it, "We are experiencing post-traumatic stress as if we too went through those experiences. We know that we didn't. I know that I was not there physically. I wasn't even a witness to their experience.” But in this podcast, we are meeting a different kind of a child, a different kind of second-generation descendant. This is a story you n Welcome to this podcast, To Be Continued... Reflections on Growing Up with Holocaust Survivors, where we explore the intersections of memory, identity, and resilience. Our goal, to lift up the experiences of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and to ask, How did those memories form you? How did resilience create you as the person you are today? And what is the legacy that you will leave to those who come after you? I'm your host, Rabbi Jeff Salkin. You are about to meet a man named Nick Winton. In the Jewish tradition, to bear someone's name is to perpetuate their memory, to make sure that the good deeds that they did will survive them. Nick Winton bears the name of his father, Sir Nicholas Winton. It starts in December 1938 with a man named Martin Blake, who was a friend of Nicholas Winton, and who was an instructional master at the Westminster School in London. Nicholas was about to take a ski vacation to Switzerland, and his friend invited him instead to visit him in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he had traveled in his capacity as an associate of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia. This committee had been established in October 1938 to provide assistance for refugees created by the German annexation of the Sudeten regions of Czechoslovakia under the terms of the Munich Pact. Convinced that a European war was imminent, Winton decided to go to Prague. What happened? Winton immediately established a children's section, and using the name of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, initially without authorization, he began taking applications from parents at his hotel in Prague. Soon, thousands of parents lined up outside of Winton's children's sections office, seeking a safe haven for their children. Ultimately, Nicholas Winton saved the lives of 669 children, most of them Jewish, who have multiplied to more than 6,000 survivor descendants. What a story. And you can watch this story, as I recently did in the movie One Life, that stars Anthony Hopkins, which is a very powerful film. But there is so much more that you should hear from Nicholas's son, Nick Winton. And true to this podcast, we will explore the question of, if many second- and third-generation survivor descendants do inherit trauma, do children of rescuers inherit moral responsibility? That is our question, among others, for Nick Winton, the son of the man dubbed Britain’s Schindler. Nick Winton grew up near Maidenhead, England, one of three children born to