Nicky's Family

               Before the start of World War II, a man helped save hundreds of Jewish children from what was then Czechoslovakia.  For fifty years this story remained untold until the man’s wife found a scrapbook in their attic.  It was because of this scrapbook that the world came to discover the great thing this man did.  People were inspired and became determined to do great things themselves all because of the action of one man.  This man was Nicholas Winton, and Nicky’s Family is his story.   

                Nicholas Winton was supposed to go on a ski trip.  It was his friend who changed the plans.  His friend wanted to go to Czechoslovakia to help the children, and Mr. Winton agreed to go with him.  While there, the parents of Jewish children recognized Mr. Winton’s interest in helping.  They appealed to him to save their children by taking them out of Czechoslovakia.  Everyone knew tough times were ahead, and they were determined to do whatever they could to make sure their children had a future.

                Getting the children out of Czechoslovakia was not something Mr. Winton knew how to do, but he had to give it a try.  He wrote letters to different governments in hopes that they would allow these children to come into their countries.  In the end, the only one willing to help was his very own Great Britain.  They agreed to let the children in and Mr. Winton set about finding families for each child.  Once a child was selected, Mr. Winton and those he worked with made sure to process the proper paperwork.  Any small error could mean a child would have to stay in Czechoslovakia.  Determined to save as many children as possible, that was the last thing they wanted to happen.

                Now, many decades later, we are able to hear firsthand accounts of these events from those who lived it.  Nicky’s Family is full of interviews and pictures from the children who were saved, as well as from Mr. Winton himself.  The children are now old enough to have children and grandchildren of their own, but their memories of that time are clear.  They are a mix of joy and sadness.  Their time in Great Britain allowed them to live good lives, but the families they left behind could not say the same.  Most of them did not survive, and the children never saw them again.

            Mr. Winton, on the other hand, was quite funny throughout the documentary.  He kept cracking jokes, and at one hundred years old was completely full of life.  Looking at the man, I never would have expected him to be that age.  He looked much younger.  Always joyful, the only clear bit of sadness the viewer saw was when Mr. Winton was talking about his wife.  She had died and he missed her greatly.  They had a happy marriage and it was sad how she did not get to experience all the acknowledgement and recognition her husband eventually received.  Not that Mr. Winton was looking for it.  He hadn’t spoken about what he had done for all those years because he did not think it was that big of a deal.  Mr. Winton did not see himself as some sort of hero.  The children he saved, however, begged to differ.     

                This is truly an inspiring story, but it is also a heartbreaking one.  It must have ripped all those parents apart to send their children away.  Then there were the children who were scheduled to leave, but had to stay in Czechoslovakia because the war started.  They never got to Britain.                       

                Along with the sad, there were some really great stories that may have never come to light had this documentary not been made. The two that stick in my head the most are the taxi driver who took in five stranded boys and the teacher who declared the seats in the back of the classroom were the seats of honor after the Germans forced the Jewish children to sit there. Such acts of kindness, and in one instance defiance, don’t get told often enough. In such a dark time of history, there was good and good people still existing in the world. Just as we should not forget the horrific and tragic events of the past, we must not forget the good that happened either.