Prague Mayor Bem met with Sir Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas Winton, being respectable 98 old, met with Pavel Bem in his Prague office. Nicholas Winton was appointed a honorable Prague citizen in 1991.

Sir Nicholas Winton (born 1909) is a Briton who organized the rescue of about 669 mostly Jewish Czech children from their doomed fate in the Nazi death camps prior to the outbreak of World War II in an operation known as the Czech Kindertransport.
His achievement went unrecognized for more than half a century until 1988. For fifty years the children did not know to whom they owed their lives. The story of Nicholas Winton only emerged when his wife Grete came across an old leather briefcase in an attic and found lists of the children and letters from their parents. He hadn’t even told her of his efforts.

During the ceremonial meeting, Pavel Bem stated: „It doesn’t happen very often, that I would be able to shake hands with somebody, who has such credit for human lives saving, as you do. Even when since the moment, you have abled those kids to live and grow old, almost 70 years have passed, the power of your deed is unchangeable. Forever.“

During Sir Nicholas Winton’s stay in Prague, he was given a petition with signatures of students, nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Bem added „I have a feeling you will get it, you deserve it without any discussion.“