A bronze statue was placed in England as a tribute to a British teacher who helped 669 children in Prague escape the Nazi persecution, among them Rabbi Yitzhak Tovia Weiss ztzel. The unveiling ceremony was attended by hundreds of guests, including Chadwick’s grandchildren and the son of his partner in the rescue mission, Nick Vinton
Trevor Chadwick, of Swanage, UK, helped Sir Nicholas Winton arrange for the children to travel safely to Britain in 1939 before and after the Czech capital was occupied by Nazi German forces, according to the Trevor Chadwick Memorial Fund. He was later nicknamed “Forback Schindler” for his efforts. He died in 1979 at the age of 72. Schindler was a Swedish industrialist who saved many Jews.
Winton, who has also since passed away, previously called Chadwick “the real hero”, saying: “He did the hardest and most dangerous work after the Nazi invasion, he deserves all the praise. He ran things on the Prague edge, organized the children and the trains and dealt with the ace Ace and the Gestapo”. He saved Rabbi Yitzhak Tobiah Weiss, who was among the many children.
Impossible to capture in a photo how emotional this statue of Trevor Chadwick is. It looks out across the children’s play area in Swanage and remembers, with pride, his brave work with the Kindertransport, to save 669 Jewish children from Nazi held Czechoslovakia during 1938/9. pic.twitter.com/2iNfCqUnBt
— #PostedInThePast | Helen Baggott (@PostedInThePast) September 7, 2022
Trevor Chadwick worked with Sir Nicholas Winton and helped smuggle 669 Jewish children out of Czechoslovakia before the start of World War II, at great personal risk. The Latin teacher helped forge travel permits to fool the Nazis and help bring children to Britain. But his efforts to save Jews were not known until recently, and his son did not even know about the rescue mission for many years. The Trevor Chadwick Memorial Fund, which was set up almost three years ago, launched an £80,000 fundraising campaign for his memorial in March.
Unveiled in Chadwick’s home town of Swanage on August 29, the sculpture shows a boy sleeping on his shoulder while the teacher holds the hand of another youngster who looks on. It overlooks a park named after him in memory of Trevor Chadwick. The unveiling ceremony was attended by hundreds of guests, including Chadwick’s grandchildren and Vinton’s son, Nick Vinton.
Nick said his father “was delighted to know that there is finally something to commemorate Trevor Chadwick’s bravery and sacrifice”, UK media reported. He added that “it’s a fitting tribute, and I think it’s vital that people have a record of the extraordinary contribution of ordinary people like Trevor Chadwick who helped others in need.”
“This recognition is a matter of some pride for our family. For many years I did not know what my father did. He never spoke about it. I think that after the war there was a reluctance to remember what happened.”
Nick Winton said of the operation: “My dad became an icon of the Save the Children program for Britain, but he said he had done nothing heroic and that there was a team of people like Trevor Chadwick who put themselves at far greater risk by staying in Czechoslovakia to to deal with the Gestapo. At the time my father was back in London to organize fundraising and take care of logistics so he was happy to know that there was finally something to commemorate Trevor’s bravery.”