Nicholas Winton helped 669 Jewish children escape the Nazis and his efforts went unrecognised for 50 years. Then, in 1988, while sitting as a member of a TV audience, he suddenly found himself surrounded by the kids he had rescued, who were now adults.

[u/RoyalChris]

[u/Elastichedgehog]

I'm a bit confused. How did this situation arise? Were they purposefully trying to surprise him?

Very heartwarming moment regardless. The guy's a hero.

[u/jgbearjgbear → u/Elastichedgehog]

Yep. I forget the story, although there’s a recent film about it. I believe he never discussed the situation and his wife found old paperwork in the attic and then a TV show got hold of it and did some detective work. They invited him to a show without him realising that half the audience were kids he’d help to get out from occupied countries.

[u/coffee_and-cats → u/jgbearjgbear]

The whole audience was children who had arrived to Britain on the transports.

He had contacted a museum about keeping the book safe. A historian was then contacted to verify the material as authentic. From there, the interest grew and the BBC were called to view the book. If I recall correctly, he had been reluctant to have third parties involved incase the info got lost somehow.

[u/Elastichedgehog → u/jgbearjgbear]

Ah, interesting. Thanks!

[u/jgbearjgbear → u/Elastichedgehog]

Per the other comments on here - the film is One Life, on Amazon Prime. Anthony Hopkins.

[u/Rorviver → u/jgbearjgbear]

And the rest of the audience were children or grandchildren of those he saved

[u/OTribal_chief → u/Elastichedgehog]

The show was called thats life - usually they did light hearted segments like finding some guy who hadnt seen his mate for 30 years.

after his wife see's the book, he gives the book to a historian - a holocaust researcher - 80 of those kids he saved now lived in the UK, its unclear who then gave the names etc to the tv show

so people often go to the show and they dont get told they're going to be featured so its all a surprise.

this video cuts early - the host esther later on asked if they were kids or grandkids of people who Nicholas saved and the entire studio audience stood up

[u/nohombrenombre → u/OTribal_chief]

But why does the audience change? The people surrounding him are not the same, partway through

[u/OTribal_chief → u/nohombrenombre]

ok i can answer that lol

the segment with the woman hugging him is from the main show. at the end of the main show Esther puts out a call to people who were saved by Nicholas or were the kids of anyone saved by him

the 2nd scene is from an update to the show and thats the one where everyone stands up

https://youtu.be/OqqbM1B-mPY?si=jZpgY-IDuSzzAPVq

[u/nohombrenombre → u/OTribal_chief]

Thank you!