A charitable trust which promotes Holocaust rescuers and advocates for their recognition, has asked the Mayor of London Boris Johnson for a street to be named after Sir Nicholas Winton.
Sir Nicholas, who died last July aged 106, was responsible for rescuing hundreds of Czech-Jewish children before they were sent to concentration camps during the Holocaust.
The president and founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF), named for the Swedish diplomat who went missing in January 1945 after saving the lives of thousands of Jews and others persecuted during World War II, wrote in their letter to Mr Johnson that they were launching a series of initiatives to commemorate Sir Nicholas ahead of the anniversary of his death in May.
They asked the Mayor “to consider the idea of naming a London street and/or public place after Sir Nicholas Winton” as part of their Houses of Life initiative, which is aimed at identifying and marking physical sites in Europe that gave shelter to innocent victims of Nazism.
They also announced a plan to commission a commemorative bust of Sir Nicholas to be placed “in a symbolic venue” – potentially the street they hope to be named after the man many regard as a hero.
Sir Nicholas was knighted in 2003, and in October last year he received the Order of the White Lion – the highest Czech state honour – from the country’s president in a ceremony at Prague Castle.
There is currently a statue in Liverpool Street Station marking the point where Kindertransport children arrived in London as well as a statue of Sir Nicholas sitting on a bench reading a book at Maidenhead railway station.