Nicholas Winton - 19 May Google icon

[Taunton]

The Google homepage image today (Tuesday 19 May 2020) commemorates Nicholas Winton's 111th birthday.

He was the organiser of the Kindertransport, which brought children out of Germany, Czechoslovakia, etc to Britain in 1938-9, just before the start of WW2. Most came via Hook-Harwich, and arrived at Liverpool Street.

There's a large bronze statue representing the children at Liverpool Street, at the upper level outside the McDonalds, a comparable statue in Berlin outside Friedrichstrasse station, street level on the north side, and one at Prague main station. There was also a commemorative recreation about 10 years ago which was hauled by 60163 Tornado from Harwich into London.

 

[pdeaves]

There's also a statue of him on one of the benches at Maidenhead station (towards London end of platform 3).

 

[306024]

And a smaller statue of children on the concourse of the NR station at Liverpool St, at the entrance to the Met line platforms.

Tornado on that Harwich to Liverpool St run was a remarkable day. News helicopter following the train, and a press scrum at Liverpool St that no one was fully prepared for.

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

He was, in my estimation, one of very few individuals to have really made a difference.
In 1998 I took the Hurtigrut from Bergen to Kirkenes and return. One of the 'British' party (included Dutch and Australian) was a lady from Stonehaven who, with her brother, had been on the last Kindertransport to leave Germany. Their farewell to their parents was the last time they saw them. Also on the ship was a large group of Germans; although Dorothy could understand them perfectly she refused to speak German, and stuck to English.
Pat

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Wiki page for him has links to these clips from That's Life in 1988.
I remember watching it at the time and it's well worth another look.
Getting him there and surrounding him with his "kinder" was exceptional live TV.
He was stunned.
I've seen his statue at Praha hl.n. (it would have been called Wilsonovo in 1939).

 

[Alex27]

Ohhhh I wondered what the Google thing was about, thank you for sharing, very interesting

 

[Taunton]

I believe the LNER let Nicholas Winton have an account for the tickets for the ship from Hook to Harwich, and the train on to London.

The invoice was never sent.

 

[alex397]

A fascinating and incredible story. It's good Google have done this, as I think more people need to know about him and what he did.

I've seen the Kindertransport statue at Liverpool Street, and it's really quite moving when you know the story behind it. It's a shame it's right outside a McDonalds though. I've also seen the statue at Praha hl.n, which is even more moving - it's in a good location on platform 1.

 

[Taunton]

Several seem to have seen the statue in Prague, but no mention of the one in Berlin, which is somewhat hidden in Georgenstrasse alongside the station. So here it is.

 

[Jamesrob637]

The Wiki page for him has links to these clips from That's Life in 1988.
I remember watching it at the time and it's well worth another look.
Getting him there and surrounding him with his "kinder" was exceptional live TV.
He was stunned.
I've seen his statue at Praha hl.n. (it would have been called Wilsonovo in 1939).

Wilsonova is a main street near Praha Hlavní Nadrazí I believe!

 

[306024]

Several seem to have seen the statue in Prague, but no mention of the one in Berlin, which is somewhat hidden in Georgenstrasse alongside the station.

I stumbled upon it by chance in Berlin, not knowing it was there. While photographing the statue in Prague someone asked me what it was all about. Fortunately her English was good enough to understand me and we had a good conversation. Together with the two statues at Liverpool St and the one at Maidenhead I think I’ve photographed the full set, unless there are any others I‘m unaware of.

 

[Taunton]

I stumbled upon it by chance in Berlin, not knowing it was there.

Strangely, me too. We were staying in a hotel nearby, I was walking down to Friedrichstr. station, glanced down the side street, noticed the statues, and immediately thought 'I bet that's the same series as the one at Liverpool Street'. And it was.

There's one in Vienna as well

Kindertransport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[306024]

Ah thanks for the Vienna picture. Worth a detour next time I’m there, hopefully one day.

 

[alex397]

It would be interesting to know if Priti Patel knows about this story!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Wilsonova is a main street near Praha Hlavní Nadrazí I believe!

Yes indeed.
Originally the station was called the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, as it was the Prague terminus of the FJB (the Vienna terminus of the line is still called FJB).
(There's a large portrait of Kaiser Franz Josef (Cisař František Josefa) in the original cupola over the station).
After WW1 it was renamed Wilsonovo because of the role US president Woodrow Wilson played in creating Czechoslovakia.
No doubt the road was named for the same reason.
The station was renamed hlavni nadraži in 1953, although it's only in the last decade or so that it really is Prague's main station, after new approach routes were built.

 

[Ianno87]

It would be interesting to know if Priti Patel knows about this story!

It sickens me how she can smirk whilst proclaiming "ending free movement once and for all" (and morons think this is somehow a good thing) when we were once the country that took the Kindertransport children.

Lessons from history truly not learned. She might even care to stop by the Liverpool Street memorial on her way to Westminster from her very own constituency

 

[Taunton]

In Prague (mentioned above) the street leading to Praha Bubny station, from which many of those on the Kindertransport departed the country, has recently been renamed Nicholas Winton Street

Prague names street after British Holocaust hero Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas helped save hundreds of mostly Jewish children from the Nazis in 1939.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Senex]

Yes indeed.
Originally the station was called the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, as it was the Prague terminus of the FJB (the Vienna terminus of the line is still called FJB).
(There's a large portrait of Kaiser Franz Josef (Cisař František Josefa) in the original cupola over the station).
After WW1 it was renamed Wilsonovo because of the role US president Woodrow Wilson played in creating Czechoslovakia.
No doubt the road was named for the same reason.
The station was renamed hlavni nadraži in 1953, although it's only in the last decade or so that it really is Prague's main station, after new approach routes were built.

Just a detail — Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Bahn, etc, without the "s" that seems to have crept into so many accounts of this line and its Vienna and Prague stations (Prague being the end of the branch off the main line from Vienna to Eger, as the km-posts still shew).

Those generously-laid-out new approaches to hl.n. are a fine example of what can be done to modernise a big city's railway network when both will and money are there (as has been the case in a significant number of other EU cities too).

 

[bearhugger]

Ohhhh I wondered what the Google thing was about, thank you for sharing, very interesting

On desktop / laptop if you click on the picture it brings up results relating to the days logo theme. It can be quite interesting to read up on something.

 

[alex397]

In Prague (mentioned above) the street leading to Praha Bubny station, from which many of those on the Kindertransport departed the country, has recently been renamed Nicholas Winton Street

Prague names street after British Holocaust hero Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas helped save hundreds of mostly Jewish children from the Nazis in 1939.

www.bbc.co.uk

Great to see this. As we don’t have many remaining living eyewitnesses of this period, it’s important we raise as much awareness as we can and have lots of things to remind people of that period, especially as we appear to be in an era of increased misinformation and ignorance.

It has not appeared on Google Maps yet as I’ve been trying to work out exactly where this street will be.
Does Bubny station have any scheduled passenger trains now? It doesn’t appear to.

 

[The exile]

Wilsonova is a main street near Praha Hlavní Nadrazí I believe!

It is indeed - but was also once the name of the station.

It has not appeared on Google Maps yet as I’ve been trying to work out exactly where this street will be.
Does Bubny station have any scheduled passenger trains now? It doesn’t appear to.

There have been very long-term engineering works (redoubling and electrification) which certainly had closed the line out as far as Dejvice last year. They may well still be going on.