[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 137 (Monday, September 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H10397-H10400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING THE REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF SIR NICHOLAS WINTON

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the resolution (H. Res. 583) recognizing the remarkable example of 
Sir Nicholas Winton who organized the rescue of 669 Jewish 
Czechoslovakian children from Nazi death camps prior to the outbreak of 
World War II.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows

                              H. Res. 583

       Whereas during the Holocaust, in which some 6,000,000 Jews 
     were brutally put to death by the Government of Nazi Germany, 
     a small number of individuals risked their lives and spent 
     fortunes to save the lives of others because they were decent 
     and courageous men and women of principle;
       Whereas, in October 1938, the Nazi Government occupied the 
     Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia, which resulted in tens of 
     thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing the occupied areas and 
     seeking safety in the areas of as-yet unoccupied 
     Czechoslovakia;
       Whereas, in late 1938, a 29-year-old British businessman, 
     Nicholas Winton, was encouraged by a friend at the British 
     Embassy in Prague to forgo a ski vacation in the Alps to 
     visit Prague and see first-hand the freezing refugee camps 
     filled with Jewish families who had fled the Sudetenland;
       Whereas, in the face of this enormous suffering, Winton, 
     moved by feelings of deep compassion, undertook a massive 
     effort to help the children of many of these Jewish families 
     escape these horrible circumstances, though at that time 
     neither he nor they knew the full extent of the horrors that 
     awaited them;
       Whereas Winton sought to find friendly governments which 
     would grant asylum to these Jewish refugee children, and his 
     efforts were rebuffed by the countries whose help he 
     requested, until the Governments of Sweden and the United 
     Kingdom agreed to accept children from the Czechoslovakian 
     refugee camps;
       Whereas Winton and other volunteers gathered names and 
     other information on children whose parents recognized the 
     importance of getting their children beyond the reach of the 
     Nazi Government, and Winton was able to use this information 
     to identify foster homes for these refugee children;
       Whereas Winton took the lead in raising funds to pay for 
     the transportation of the children from Prague to Britain and 
     Sweden and to pay an enormous government-imposed fee to cover 
     the costs of future repatriation;
       Whereas, on March 14, 1939, the first 20 children left 
     Prague under Winton's auspices, and the very next day the 
     Nazi army overran the remainder of un-occupied 
     Czechoslovakia;
       Whereas the heroic effort of Winton and other volunteers to 
     assist these young children flee occupied Czechoslovakia 
     continued for over six months until the outbreak of World War 
     II on September 1, 1939, during which time 669 children were 
     able to leave in a total of eight separate groups;
       Whereas the ninth group of some 250 children was scheduled 
     to leave Prague on September 3, 1939, but was halted 
     following the outbreak of hostilities, and none of these 250 
     children lived to see the end of World War II six years 
     later;

[[Page H10398]]

       Whereas this group of 669 children, saved through the 
     efforts of Winton and his collaborators, includes doctors, 
     nurses, teachers, musicians, artists, writers, pilots, 
     ministers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and a Member 
     of the British Parliament, and today they and their children 
     and grandchildren and great-grandchildren number over 5,000 
     individuals, and these individuals live in the United States, 
     Canada, Australia, the Czech Republic, Britain, Germany, and 
     other countries;
       Whereas Winton's achievement went unrecognized and 
     unacknowledged for more than half a century until his wife, 
     who knew nothing of this life-saving work, came across an old 
     leather briefcase in an attic in which she found lists of the 
     children, letters from their parents and other materials 
     documenting his efforts;
       Whereas, of the 15,000 Czechoslovakian Jewish children who 
     fled to refugee camps or who were forced into concentration 
     camps during the Nazi occupation, only a handful survived 
     World War II, and Vera Gissing, one of the children saved by 
     Winton and the author of the script for the film ``Nicholas 
     Winton--the Power of Good'', which won the Emmy Award in 
     2002, said that Winton ``rescued the greater part of the 
     Jewish children of my generation in Czechoslovakia. Very few 
     of us met our parents again: they perished in concentration 
     camps. Had we not been spirited away, we would have been 
     murdered alongside them.''; and
       Whereas Winton has been honored with the title of Member of 
     the British Empire (MBE), was awarded the Freedom of the City 
     of Prague, received the Czech Order of T. G. Masaryk, and was 
     given a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to 
     humanity: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
       (1) commends Sir Nicholas Winton and those British and 
     Czechoslovakian citizens who worked with him, for their 
     remarkable persistence and selfless courage in saving the 
     lives of 669 Czechoslovakian Jewish children in the months 
     before the outbreak of World War II; and
       (2) urges men and women everywhere to recognize in Winton's 
     remarkable humanitarian effort the difference that one 
     devoted principled individual can make in changing and 
     improving the lives of others.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) and the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Smith) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from American Samoa.


                             General Leave

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from American Samoa?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in strong support of this resolution, and I thank the 
leadership of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman Lantos and 
our senior ranking member, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for their support on this 
resolution.
  Let me also especially congratulate the chief sponsor and author of 
this important resolution, my good friend and member of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee, Congressman Klein, as well as the lead Republican 
cosponsor, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, for recognizing the unsung hero of 
World War II, Sir Nicholas Winton.
  Mr. Speaker, whenever humanity is enshrouded in the darkness of 
atrocity and violence, there are a few scattered lights of moral 
decency and personal courage that give hope to all mankind that 
darkness will not prevail.

                              {time}  1600

  Arguably, Mr. Speaker, there has not been a more terrible period of 
darkness than that of World War II when Nazi Germany systematically 
murdered more than 6 million Jewish people. Even during that terrible 
period there were lights in the moral darkness and who kept alive the 
values of decency, compassion and courage. One such person was a 29-
year-old British businessman, Mr. Nicholas Winton.
  During his frequent business trips to Germany, Mr. Winton observed 
firsthand the virulent anti-Semitism that prevailed in that country and 
manifested itself in arrests, harassment, and physical attacks on 
Jewish people. In 1935, Germany codified anti-Semitism by enacting the 
Nuremberg Race Laws.
  Mr. Speaker, after the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the subsequent 
annexation of Germany of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, Mr. 
Winton became concerned that Nazi Germany could not be appeased. 
Indeed, on November 9 of that year, 1938, anti-Semitic violence 
exploded across Germany and Austria. Because of the broken glass in the 
streets, that date is remembered as Kristallnacht.
  Soon afterwards, Mr. Winton was encouraged even by a friend at the 
British Embassy in Prague to forgo a ski vacation in the Alps and 
instead to visit what was left of Czechoslovakia in order to see the 
refugee camps filled with freezing Jewish families who had fled the 
Sudetenland.
  Mr. Speaker, he was deeply moved by the suffering he saw and was 
convinced immediate action had to be taken. Mr. Winton conceived of an 
idea. Upon his return to Great Britain, he organized volunteers to 
collect names of children whose parents were desperate to get them 
beyond the reach of the Nazi Government.
  Mr. Winton then identified foster homes for those refugee children in 
Britain and in Sweden. He raised money to fund their transportation and 
to pay fees imposed by the government to cover the costs of future 
repatriation.
  Mr. Speaker, on March 14, 1939, the first 20 children of this venture 
left Prague. The very next day the Nazi Army overran the remainder of 
unoccupied Czechoslovakia. Mr. Winton and his volunteers continued 
their dangerous work for another 6 months, until the full outbreak of 
World War II on September 1st.
  During this time, Mr. Winton and his volunteers saved 669 children. 
These were children who escaped the Holocaust and who later had their 
own lives and families, thanks to the efforts of this one man.
  Mr. Speaker, tragically, a final group of 250 children scheduled to 
leave on September 3 was prevented from doing so. None of them lived to 
see the end of World War II.
  It is by coincidence that we even learned about the heroic efforts of 
now 97-year-old Mr. Nicholas Winton, who never sought any recognition 
for his actions. Even his wife was unaware of what he had done until 
she found an old leather briefcase in an attic that contained documents 
pertaining to the rescue operations.
  Mr. Speaker, the world has now begun to pay tribute to the brave acts 
of this modest hero, a true man, in my opinion. He was knighted by 
Queen Elizabeth II and made a member of the British Empire. He received 
the honor of the Freedom of the City of Prague and was made a member of 
the order named for the father of Czechoslovakia.
  It is appropriate, Mr. Speaker, for this House to recognize the 
courageous efforts of this one man, Sir Nicholas Winton, during one of 
history's darkest moments.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, to take this opportunity to rise in 
support of House Resolution 583 recognizing the remarkable example of 
Sir Nicholas Winton, who organized the rescue of 669 Jewish 
Czechoslovakian children from Nazi death camps prior to the outbreak of 
World War II.
  Sir Nicholas Winton, like many of life's heroes, sought no publicity 
for his efforts, which ultimately saved those young lives. In fact, for 
more than 50 years Winton's heroism went unrecognized until his wife, 
Greta, stumbled across a leather briefcase in their attic in which she 
found documentation of the children smuggled out of Nazi-occupied 
Czechoslovakia and letters written by their parents.
  Though less well known, Sir Nicholas' story has much in common with 
Oskar Schindler's, which has been celebrated in both print and film.
  In 1938, Nicholas, a British subject, traveled to Prague, where he 
was haunted by the impression of refugee camps which were newly 
constructed there. This experience motivated him to tirelessly lobby 
the British Government in attempts to secure visas for Czechoslovakian 
Jewish refugee children.
  Winton's efforts enabled the safe escape to Britain of almost 700 
kids who surely would have perished without his intervention. Sir 
Nicholas' mission was

[[Page H10399]]

even more challenging, as it required that he first find a foster 
family to accept each child before they would be accepted into the 
country.
  It is staggering to consider today that there are over 5,000 
descendants of ``Winton children'' around the world, including the UK, 
Canada, Czech Republic and the United States, lives that would have 
perished without Sir Nicholas' selfless dedication to a remarkable 
humanitarian mission.
  Nearly 100 years old today, Sir Nicholas Winton has been honored with 
the title Member of the British Empire and with knighthood from Queen 
Elizabeth II.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this and I thank Mr. Klein for 
his authorship of this legislation
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I yield all 
the time that he needs to the author of this important resolution, my 
good friend and also a senior member of our committee, the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Klein).
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen for the 
presentation and the support of the resolution, House Resolution 583. I 
would also like to thank Chairman Lantos, who has a deep and abiding 
understanding of the circumstances leading up to and what occurred 
during the Holocaust, and of course Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 
and my cosponsor, Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart from Florida.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true hero, Mr. Nicholas Winton, 
who saved more than 600 children from their death during the Holocaust. 
Nine months before the outbreak of World War II, Nicholas Winton, then 
only 29 years old, a young man, used his business and personal 
connections, urgently working from the dining room of a hotel room, and 
found safety for these hundreds of children.
  Nicholas Winton took the lead in raising the necessary funds to 
assure transportation for these children. As was said already, he found 
foster homes and arranged for the necessary permits and documents. But 
let's understand this is not just an administrative function that we 
would think of today to place children. This was under threat of death 
of himself, his family and anybody who assisted. He saved these 
children's lives, since most of their families and contemporaries 
remained in Czechoslovakia, and they soon perished.
  These children grew up to be doctors, nurses, teachers, musicians, 
artists, writers, pilots, ministers, scientists, engineers, 
entrepreneurs, and even a member of the British Parliament. Today they 
and their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren number 
over 5,000 human beings, living in the United States, Canada, 
Australia, the Czech Republic, Britain, Germany and elsewhere.
  Nicholas Winton, as was already indicated, was given a knighthood 
from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to humanity. Sir Nicholas 
never sought credit for saving the lives of these children. In fact, 
his achievement went unrecognized for more than half a century, and 
until 1988 his family never knew about it.
  For 50 years they were called ``Winton's children,'' as the survivors 
called themselves, and did not know who to even thank or to whom they 
owed their lives. The story only emerged when his wife came across a 
satchel in the attic and found lists of children and letters from their 
parents.
  In 1939, as he scrambled to save hundreds of lives, Nicholas Winton 
wrote in a letter: ``There is a difference between passive goodness and 
active goodness, which is, in my opinion, the giving of one's time and 
energy in the alleviation of pain and suffering. It entails going out, 
finding and helping those in suffering and danger and not merely in 
leading an exemplary life in a purely passive way of doing no wrong.''
  The life of Sir Nicholas is certainly an example of active goodness. 
Just as we will never forget the horrors and deaths of the Holocaust, 
we must also never forget the examples of bravery and heroism that 
still serve as our role models today.
  On a personal note, as with many people in this country, much of my 
grandparents' family was killed in the Holocaust. I think many of us in 
this country understand and recognize the importance of a man who stood 
up as bravely as he did, and there were many others who did the same 
and risked their lives in doing this.
  I thank the members of Congress today. I urge my colleagues to 
support this resolution to honor the life and accomplishments of Sir 
Nicholas Winton, a hero to many and a model for all.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for 
his most eloquent statement. Maybe some day these 5,000 children of Mr. 
Winton might have a reunion somewhere in the United States to express a 
real sense of appreciation to this gentleman.
  I recall, Mr. Speaker, the statement by the late Martin Luther King, 
Jr., who said that in the end we will not remember the words of our 
enemies, but the silence of our friends. Here is one gentleman that was 
not silent about human rights and what he did for some 669 children 
whose descendants now enjoy the benefits of what he did some 60 years 
ago.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support 
of H. Res. 583, recognizing the remarkable example of Sir Nicholas 
Winton, who organized the rescue of 669 Jewish Czechoslovakian children 
from Nazi death camps prior to the outbreak of World War II. I would 
like to thank my colleague, Congressman Ron Klein, for introducing this 
important legislation, as well as the lead Republican cosponsor, 
Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
  Mr. Speaker, today we recognize one of the great unsung heroes of 
World War II; a man who stood up against extraordinary evil to defend 
innocent children. Sir Nicholas Winton is an individual of profound 
moral decency and personal courage, who, in the midst of the immense 
darkness of World War II, offered hope that the perpetrators of 
horrendous atrocities would not prevail.
  In 1938, Nicholas Winton, a 29-year-old clerk at the London Stock 
Exchange, visited Prague and was immediately concerned by the refugee 
situation. His frequent business trips to Germany had given him first-
hand knowledge of the virulent anti-Semitism codified by the 1935 
Nuremberg Race laws, manifesting itself in ever-increasing attacks, 
harassment, and arrest of Jewish people in Germany. The 1938 Munich 
Agreement, which gave Hitler control over the Sudetenland region of 
Czechoslovakia and was hailed by British Prime Minister as a ``peace 
for our time,'' did not ease Winton's fears, and he came to recognize 
that Germany could not be appeased.
  When Winton visited Prague, he found refugee camps, full of freezing 
Jewish families who had fled the Sudetenland. In particular, he was 
alarmed that nothing was being done to help the many innocent children, 
trapped in the gathering storm of war. Before returning to London, he 
set up a system of Kindertransport, where the names of children where 
collected and paired with foster homes in Britain and Sweden. When 
families could not pay to transport their children beyond the reaches 
of the Nazis, Winton raised money to fund transportation and other 
fees.
  On March 14, 1939, only a day before the Nazi army occupied all of 
Czechoslovakia, the first 20 children left Prague. Over the next six 
months, a total of 669 children were sent via 8 trains to London, where 
families waited to shelter them. These children were spared the horror 
of the concentration camps by the courageous efforts of one man. Vera 
Gissing, one of the many children who, thanks to Winton's work, 
survived the war, later wrote, ``He rescued the greater part of the 
Jewish children of my generation in Czechoslovakia. Very few of us met 
our parents again: they perished in concentration camps. Had we not 
been spirited away, we would have been murdered alongside them.''

  A 9th train was scheduled to leave on September 3, 1939, with 250 
children onboard. Tragically, Great Britain entered the war that very 
day, and the train was prevented from leaving Prague, and it later 
disappeared. None of the children on board was ever heard from again, 
and none survived the war. In all, 15,000 Czech children were killed in 
the Holocaust.
  Nicholas Winton is a reluctant hero, who never bragged about his 
courageous work. He never sought recognition for his actions, and we 
only learned about his efforts by coincidence. His good deeds did not 
end with the war's conclusion, and he was awarded a Member of the Order 
of the British Empire title in 1983 for his charitable work with the 
elderly. He was further recognized by the City of Prague and the nation 
of Czechoslovakia.
  Sir Nicholas Winton epitomizes the greatness of the human spirit. He 
stood against the forces of darkness and helped the powerless during 
one of history's blackest hours, and then never sought recognition for 
his extraordinary accomplishments. Six hundred and

[[Page H10400]]

sixty-nine children were saved from suffering the horrific fate that 
befell so many of their friends and family members due to his daring, 
creativity, and compassion. I am grateful for the opportunity to pay 
tribute to this extraordinary man, and I strongly urge my colleagues to 
support this resolution.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Michaud). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) that 
the House suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 583.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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