One Life - Heroism Triumphs Over Evil
By Milt Cerny and Tom Dine
In contemporary international affairs, every serious eye is focused on national hostilities, violence, and cross-border wars that are currently rampant in regions such as Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Yemen, Iran, North Korea, Central America, and even the U.S. Trouble reigns everywhere, or so it seems.
Current events often echo past historical episodes. For example, Russia’s aggressive invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022 bear resemblance to the historic backdrop of turmoil and conflict that swept through Central Europe following the Munich Agreement in 1938.
A recently released film, One Life, revisits parts of this tragic episode, focusing on Nazi Germany’s seizure of Czechoslovakia and its brutal treatment of Jews. One Life recounts the inspiring true story of Nicholas Winton, a young London stockbroker on vacation in Prague in late 1938. Witnessing the plight of Jewish refugees facing persecution by the Nazis, Winton skips a planned ski holiday to join the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia to help save endangered Jewish children. He spearheads the Czech Kindertransport project, which transports hundreds of children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia to safety in the U.K. The elderly Winton is portrayed by the acclaimed actor, Anthony Hopkins.
Before the Nazis stopped Winton and his colleagues in their heroic deeds, eight passenger trains had carried 669 Czech children to safety in Great Britain over several months. A ninth train with 250 children aboard was scheduled to depart Prague on September 1, 1939. That day, however, coincided with Hitler’s invasion of Poland, triggering the start of World War II. Nazi officials, Wehrmacht soldiers, and armed police never let the train pull out of Prague Central Station. They off-loaded 250 young passengers.
For the remainder of Winton’s long life, he was haunted that the 250 stayed behind. In fact, the youngsters disappeared. “We had families waiting at London’s Liverpool Street that day in vain,” Winton recalled. “If the train had left Prague a day earlier, it would have come through.”
Decades later, a moving moment occurs when a surprised, tearful Winton is reunited with surviving Czech Kindertransport children, now adults in middle age, during a BBC television special, earning the group the moniker “Winton’s Children.”
Peter Rafaeli, a director and former president of the American Friends of the Czech Republic who died in 2023, had a personal connection to the story through his upbringing in Czechoslovakia and his family’s tragic experiences during the Holocaust. After the war, Peter, along with his Czech wife, Inka, emigrated to the United States and worked his way to success in automobile dealerships in Philadelphia. Peter also served as an Honorary Consul for the Czech Republic for 20 years. He joined AFoCR in 2001 and proceeded to arrange for the translation and printing of a biography of Nicholas Winton by Slovak writer Matej Minac. Peter paid for thousands of copies to be distributed to libraries, schools, and clubs in the U.S. Peter was determined to honor the legacy of Winton as well as to educate the young. Peter Rafaeli’s actions mirrored the character demonstrated so valiantly by Nicholas Winton. Two extraordinary men.
Milt Cerny and Tom Dine, Washingtonians, are former Presidents of the American Friends of the Czech Republic. Cerny was a co-founder of AFoCR. Dine is currently AFoCR’s chairman.