Holocaust survivor’s rescue by Sir Nicholas Winton features in travelling exhibition

When Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines escaped Prague at the age of nine, along with her sister, Eva, three, she didn’t comprehend the danger she and her family were in, believing it was “just an adventure”.

She is one of the last remaining survivors who was saved by the late Sir Nicholas Winton.

Her positive outlook was largely because her relatives didn’t tell her about the threats she faced as a Jewish child, but looking back on her childhood now, at the age of 96, she says: “I wish they had told us because I grew up with an almost carefree life for such a long time, and only since learning my story, I’ve had the ability to show what the Holocaust was like.”

Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines (centre) with her cousins, who were killed in extermination camps (Photo: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

Lady Milena and her sister were among the 669 Czech children – mostly Jewish – who were rescued by Sir Nicholas Winton on what became known as the Czech Kindertransport, from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

On 31 July 1939, Lady Milena’s maternal grandfather took her and her younger sister to the Prague Railway Station, giving her an autograph book with messages from him, Lady Milena’s grandmother and other relatives. She credits her extended family members for having the “foresight to get some of my family to write in the autograph book, as they knew they weren’t going to survive”.

[Missing Credit]Milena's grandfather's message in her autograph book on the eve of parting (Photo: courtesy)

Lady Milena and her sister, Eva Paddock’s story now forms part of a travelling exhibition Between Life and Death: Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust, which focuses on ordinary individuals across 15 European countries who risked their own safety to help Jewish people escape persecution and death during the Second World War. It has just been on display at Swiss Cottage Library and will be moving to Newark-on-Trent, Huddersfield and Barnet during the course of the year.

Milena's label (Photo: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

After their arrival in the UK, both Milena and Eva were taken care of by a family near Manchester, before being reunited with their father, who had arrived previously, and his wife, who was able to escape Prague in 1940. “I was lucky as one of the few who actually had parents as most of the children who were put on those trains were the only survivors.”

During the war, Milena attended the Czechoslovak State Boarding School in Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales, and after the war, her family moved to Preston and she trained as a nursery nurse, later marrying architect George Grenfell-Baines and having four children.

Forty years later, Milena was able to meet Sir Nicholas Winton and thank him for saving her life, telling him: “I am one of the children you saved.” She later described him as one of the “most modest people I’ve ever met”.

Milena and Sir Nicholas Winton many years later (Photo: nicholaswinton.com)[Missing Credit]

As one of a shrinking number of Holocaust survivors, Lady Milena continues to tell her story, stressing how important it is for young people to be able to hear stories first hand. “Antisemitism is growing, and people need to be educated. Teachers need to tell these young people that history is not just something they’re reading about in books.”

Over 6,000 descendants and family members are estimated to be alive today from the 669 children Sir Nicholas Winton rescued.

’Between Life and Death: Stories of Rescue During the Holocaust’, coordinated by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS), is on at Swiss Cottage Library until July 31. It is then moving to Newark-on-Trent, Huddersfield and Barnet. Click here for more information or go to: enrs.eu/between-life-and-death

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Sir Nicholas Winton

Holocaust survivor’s rescue by Sir Nicholas Winton features in travelling exhibition

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