Full Council will discuss a plan to rename the Holocaust garden in Hendon Park as ‘The Sir Nicholas Winton Holocaust Memorial Garden’, in tribute to the British humanitarian who died last year.
The proposal, brought as a member’s item to last Thursday’s Environment Committee by Cllr Dean Cohen, is to be considered at the Annual Council meeting on 24th May following agreement by the committee.
Sir Nicholas Winton (MBE) was the British humanitarian who organised the rescue of 669 children, the majority of whom were Jewish, at the start of the Second War. He received an MBE in 1983 and was knighted in 2003.
Following his death last year at the age of 106, a successful campaign was run to ask the Royal Mail to create a set of stamps in his honour.
Cllr Dean Cohen believes that it would be fitting to have a lasting tribute to Sir Nicholas in the borough, given the number of children rescued through the Kindertransport scheme, and similar efforts, who came to find a new home in Barnet.
Cllr Cohen, who is Chairman of the Environment Committee and a ward member for Golders Green, said:
“I was approached by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, a non-governmental organisation whose mission is to develop education programmes and public awareness campaigns based on the values of solidarity, civic courage and the ethical cornerstones of the saviours of the Holocaust.
“Sir Nicholas Winton, in acting to save so many children, embodied these values and his example should continue to be recognised and remembered.
“Renaming the Holocaust Memorial Garden in Hendon Park in his honour would seem a fitting tribute.
“I am pleased we will have the opportunity to discuss this among all members at Annual Council – an occasion which celebrates civic duty and commitment in our borough – and I hope everyone there will join me in supporting this initiative.”
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4 Responses
He was Jewish. HIs parents emigrated to England from Germany in the early 1900’s and converted out of Judaism.
Even if he wasn’t Jewish – he save nearly 700 Jews. That’s reason enough to name a Holocaust garden after him.
We are a most xenophobic people.
Sir Winton died last week — the above article was wrong.
See:
Sir Nicholas Winton obituary
‘British Schindler’ who organised the rescue of hundreds of children in Czechoslovakia from the Nazis in the months before the second world war
Sir Nicholas Winton photographed in 2014
Sir Nicholas Winton photographed in 2014. He always insisted that he had never been in personal danger. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Stephen Bates
Wednesday 1 July 2015 14.52 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 1 July 2015 19.00 EDT
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It is not always true that the good die young. Sir Nicholas Winton, who has died aged 106, became known belatedly as “the British Schindler” for his part in rescuing more than 600 children in Czechoslovakia from the Nazis in the months before the outbreak of the second world war. His was a good deed performed by stealth, and it was not generally known about for nearly 50 years until revealed on the BBC’s That’s Life! TV programme.
from
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/01/sir-nicholas-winton
apparently i was wrong. sorry. He did die last year.
please remove the comment.