Arts Emanu-El kicks off season with film, speaker on Kindertransport

In 1938, a young, successful British stockbroker decided to take a ski vacation in Switzerland. Then, he got diverted. He went to Prague instead, set up an office at the dining room table in his hotel, and organized an effort to get Jewish children out of Nazi-threatened Czechoslovakia and to safety in England. By the time the Nazis shut down his efforts, 18 months later, Nicholas Winton had rescued 669 Jewish children. Winton then quietly returned to England, seeking no publicity or gratitude for his efforts.

Why did Winton decide to organize this rescue and then tell no one about it? How did he do it? What happened to those children?  

One of those rescued children, Eva Paddock, now 80 years old, tells her story, along with a showing of “Nicky’s Family,” the gripping, inspirational film account of the rescue operation and its aftermath,  at Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. Those who attend are advised to bring handkerchiefs, yes, but also to know they will leave thinking more deeply about how one person’s acts of kindness can inspire countless others to do good in a dangerous world.

Winton, who the British press called the “British Schindler,” barely spoke about his rescue work with anyone for more than half a century. Then his wife found a suitcase in their attic, full of documents and transport plans, and slowly, the facts, the drama and the identities of the 669 children became public. After that, dozens of Winton’s “children,” along with many of their descendants, were located, and for the first time in their lives, they were given details about their rescue. That emotional discovery is documented in the film.

In addition, thousands of children in many countries have learned about the story and decided to follow in Winton’s footsteps. They have been inspired to create their own “Winton Projects,” as they are now called, to help children in need around the world. This story, too, is part of the film, and these children, too, consider themselves part of Nicky’s family. In addition, 120,000 children in the Czech Republic have signed a petition to award Nicholas Winton the Nobel Peace Prize.

Paddock, the guest speaker for the evening, was 3 years old when she was put on the Kindertransport in Czechoslovakia. She sat in total silence throughout the journey, as she and her sister traveled through Europe to England. They were then placed with a family in Lancaster, in a tiny home without an indoor toilet. But Paddock considers herself lucky. 

“We were two of the very rare and fortunate Kindertransport children whose parents survived,” she said in an interview with the Boston Jewish Journal Online on June 27, 2013.

The girls were reunited with their parents in England after the end of the war. Many years later, Paddock married, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her own family, pursued a professional career and learned more and more about Winton’s Kindertransport.

In 2009, Paddock gathered with 21 of the rescued for a reenactment of their Kindertransport journey in 1939, retracing the exact trip all the way through Europe to England.

Today, Paddock talks often and gladly about her experiences, and about Nicholas Winton. 

“The films about Nicholas Winton are extremely important as part of the documentary legacy of events relating to the Holocaust, particularly in the effect they can have on young people, who can see firsthand how one person can have an enormous effect on the lives of others just by seeing a humanitarian need and acting on it,” she says. 

This program is the first of five events to be brought to the community this season by Arts Emanu-El at Temple Emanu-El. The series includes a musical and film tribute to the American and Yiddish film star Molly Picon, then two art exhibits in March, and a final, family-friendly, event on April 30: A 69th birthday celebration of Israel’s independence, Yom ha’Atzmaut, with live music, Israeli dancing and a film, “Above and Beyond.” For details, go to Temple Emanu-El’s website, teprov.org, and click on “What’s Happening” and then “Arts Emanu-El.”

To purchase tickets for “Nicky’s Family” and Eva Paddock’s talk on Nov. 19, go to teprov.org, or send a check to: Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, RI  02906 (with note: “Nicky’s Family”). Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, and include the film, light refreshments and the talk. 

LINDA SHAMOON is co-chair of Arts Emanu-El at Temple Emanu-El.