r/MadeMeSmile • u/RoyalChris • Feb 25 '25

Wholesome Moments 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.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

109.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.9k

u/nun_the_wiser Feb 25 '25

my family too. They lived in an apartment complex and they had a whole system to keep people safe. There was one woman they couldn’t save, and my grandmother testified at the trial of the Nazi who killed her.

796

u/fisherthem_ Feb 25 '25

Thats awesome and something to be proud of. I exist because of people like your grandmother.

271

u/nun_the_wiser Feb 26 '25

Thank you for sharing that ❤️

121

u/negao360 Feb 26 '25

Glad you're here🤗

308

u/Leading_Garage_6582 Feb 26 '25

Yeah, I don't think people understand how insane WW2 was. My Grandfather was a gunner on a Jeep in the European front, only thing he's ever said to me and my dad about it is "killing is not good"

162

u/PopeInnocentXIV Feb 26 '25

Jeremy Clarkson did a great documentary on the history of the Victoria Cross, and focused on one in particular, Major Robert Cain.

He died of cancer in 1974. Sadly, that means I never met him, which is a shame for two reasons: firstly, because I'm absolutely fascinated with VC winners; and secondly, because I'm married to his daughter. She didn't even know he'd won a Victoria Cross until after he died. He never thought to mention it.

49

u/skiesfullofbats Feb 26 '25

That's sounds like my grandpa. He fought in the battle of the bulge and was captured then sent to Stalag IX-B where he was starved, got really sick, and saw many of the other prisoners die. He didn't mention much of what he went through during his time in WWII, it was pretty clear that it was not things he wanted to remember or talk much about. He went to war a Lutheran and came back atheist, said no god could exist and if it did but allowed those horrors to happen, it wasn't a god worth following.

3

u/KataqNarayan Feb 26 '25

My grand uncle lost his leg in the amphibious invasion of Italy. He was a tank commander. I just remember as a kid that he was missing a leg and never thought to ask why. He never talked about it. I only found out because my grandfather (shortly before he died) told me. He said “Ah Walter.. he loved his tanks”.

It just seems so common that our grand parents don’t really talk about any of it.

He served in the Met Police after, despite missing a leg. Should probably try emailing them and seeing what he go up to there.

2

u/Montantero Feb 26 '25

You most definitely should email them, this sounds like it could lead to such interesting stories!!

31

u/CelestialGlowXa Feb 26 '25

not gonna lie, this got me teary-eyed… true kindness never fades

3

u/tzippora Feb 26 '25

Wow....you came from good stock.