救出700儿童 英国辛德勒获捷克最高荣誉

Sir Nicholas Winton, a British man who saved 669 children from the Nazis, was awarded the highest civilian honour in the Czech Republic on Tuesday.

尼古拉斯·温顿爵士是一位英国人，他曾从纳粹手里救出669名犹太儿童。他在本周二被捷克共和国授予了最高的平民荣誉。

Winton, now 105, was presented with the Order of the White Lion by the Czech president in a special ceremony at Prague Castle.

在布拉格城堡的特殊典礼上，105岁高龄的温顿被捷克总统颁发了最高荣誉奖章——白狮勋章。

Winton, who has often been nicknamed “the British Schindler”, organised the transportation and settlement of 669 children over nine months before the second world war broke out in September 1939. Most of those he saved were Jewish children living in then-German-occupied Czechoslovakia whose families were later imprisoned or murdered in concentration camps.

温顿常被人称为“英国辛德勒”。在1939年九月爆发的第二次世界大战之前的九个多月里，他为669名犹太儿童安排了运输工具和栖息之所。他所救的大部分是犹太人的小孩，他们住在被德军占领的捷克斯洛伐克。这些孩子的家人之后都在集中营里被囚禁或被杀害。

Winton gave a speech during the ceremony. He said: “I want to thank you all for this enormous expression of thanks for something which happened to me a heck of a long time ago. I am delighted that so many of the children are still about and are here to thank me.

温顿在典礼上发表了一番演讲。他说：“我想感谢你们所有人，感谢那些发生在我身上的陈旧往事。我很高兴能有那么多的孩子仍旧好好地来这儿感谢我。“

“England was the only country at that time willing to accept unaccompanied minors. I thank the British people for making room to accept them, and of course the enormous help given by so many of the Czechs who were at that time doing what they could to fight the Germans and to try to get the children out.”

“英国在那时候是唯一愿意接受孤儿的国家。我很感谢英国人民能够腾出地方来接纳他们，当然，被给予如此大的帮助的捷克人民那时也正不断努力抵抗德国人，他们也试着救出他们的孩子们。”

In the same ceremony, the Order of the White Lion was also bestowed on Sir Winston Churchill, given in memoriam to his grandson Nicholas Soames. They are the only British citizens to receive the award, after Margaret Thatcher and the Queen. Presenting the award, the Czech President, Milos Zeman said: “It is a great pleasure to confer this award upon two great personalities of the UK. I am only ashamed it has been awarded so late – but better late than never. Congratulations Sir Winton. This is our highest honour; we cannot do one higher.”

在这个典礼上，为了纪念温斯顿·丘吉尔，还将白狮勋章授予了丘吉尔并由他的孙子尼库拉斯·索米斯代领。丘吉尔和温顿是继英国前首相撒切尔夫人和英国女王之后唯二位被授予该勋章的英国人。捷克总统米洛什·泽曼在颁奖的时候说：“能将这个奖颁给这两位英国伟人是多么荣幸啊。我为奖章颁发的如此之晚而感到羞愧——但是亡羊补牢。恭喜你，温顿阁下。这是我们最高的荣誉，没有比它更高的了。

The ceremony was attended by many of the people that Winton saved, as well as schoolchildren from the Basic School of Sir Nicholas Winton, named after him, in Kunzak, Czech Republic.

在典礼上来了许多温顿对他们有过救命之恩的人，还有来自在捷克共和国以尼库拉斯·温顿爵士命名的小学的学生们。

Winton and his family were flown out on a special plane courtesy of the Czech government so that he could be taken to receive the award and return back the same day for his normal bedtime.

为了让他得到正常休息，温顿和他的家人乘坐捷克政府提供的专机来捷克接受勋章，并在同一天回到英国。