One Life true story: who was Nicholas Winton in 2024 biopic, how many children did he save from the Holocaust?

Anthony Hopkins plays British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton in the historical biopic One Life. The film tells the amazing true story of the man, later known as the ‘British Schindler’, who saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War.

There are today thousands of people whose parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were saved by Winton. One Life explores how Winton was able to save so many children as a young man, and how he went unrecognised for his efforts for half a century.

It was not until the 1980s that Winton gained the recognition he deserved, and now the first feature film about his remarkable life is finally coming to cinemas.

Who was Nicholas Winton?

Nicholas Winton was a stockbroker and humanitarian, born to German Jewish parents who migrated to Britain before he was born. He was in his late 20s when in December 1938 he travelled to Prague to assist the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, modern day Czechia and Slovakia.

He left Czechoslovakia in January 1939, just weeks before Germany occupied the country, but by that time had helped to organise the movement of hundreds of children from Jewish families to Britain, saving them from likely death in the Holocaust.

Following Kristallnacht, in November 1938, in which German authorities attacked Jewish homes and businesses, the British government passed a law allowing refugees under 17 to come to Britain if they had a £50 warranty for their eventual return, and had organised a place to stay on arrival. Around 70,000 refugees came to Britain in this way before the outbreak of war.

Winton worked to ensure that as many children as possible could come to Britain legally and have a sponsor to care for them on their arrival. During the war he initially registered as a conscientious objector and served in the Red Cross, but rescinded his objection in 1940 and joined the RAF.

After the war he married Danish secretary Grete Gjelstrup and they had three children together, one of whom died aged six. When Winton died in 2015, aged 106, he was survived by his two children, and two grandchildren.

How many children did Nicholas Winton save?

Winton is believed to have saved the lives of 669 Czech children, most of whom were Jewish and likely would have perished in ghettos or concentration camps during the Holocaust following Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. 

In the BBC programme That’s Life!, presented by Esther Rantzen, Winton was in the audience for a special episode about his life. Rantzen asked members of the audience to stand up if they were among the children who had been saved by Winton, and several audience members stood up and applauded.

Rantzen then asked if anyone in the audience was a child or grandchild of someone that Winton had saved, and everyone else stood up.

It has been estimated that as well as the 669 children whom Winton directly saved, around half of whom have not been traced, there are now roughly 6,000 descendants who also owe their lives to him.

Winton has been compared to Oskar Schindler, a German businessman and member of the Nazi party who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust - there are roughly 8,000 alive today descended from those survivors.

Among those saved by Winton were former Labour MP and current member of the House of Lords, Alf Dubs, director Karel Reisz, and writer Vera Gissing.

One Life is in cinemas in the UK from Monday January 1