Czech President Milos Zeman has invited Briton Nicholas Winton to Prague to award him the Order of the White Lion, a government official said Monday.

President Zeman will present Winton -- the saviour of hundreds of Jewish children during World War II -- the highest Czech decoration on Oct. 28, presidential spokesperson Jiri Ovcacek said.

On that date, the anniversary of the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 is marked.

Winton organised eight trains with 669 Czechoslovak Jewish children from the then Nazi-sponsored protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and transported them to Britain just before World War Two erupted. He secured documents for the children and their reception by British families.

The first train with Jewish children left Prague's main railway station in May 1939. Most members of the children's families died in concentration camps. But the final train with 250 children on board which was to leave Prague in September 1939 was stopped by Nazis at the last minute due to the outbreak of the war. Almost none of the children on this ninth aborted train survived the war.

Ovcacek said President Zeman hoped Winton could come to Prague in the autumn. "It will depend on the health of Sir Winton, however," he said.

In a letter congratulating Winton on his 105th birthday on Monday, Zeman said Winton's life story was an example of humanity, altruism and personal courage.

Winton has been decorated with a number of British and Czech awards. He has been knighted and awarded the Order of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk by former Czech president Vaclav Havel in 1998. In 2010, he received the Holocaust Hero medal from former British prime minister Gordon Brown. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)