A new street in Prague’s 7th district has been named in honor of Nicholas Winton, the British man who tirelessly persuaded immigration authorities to grant visas for 669 Jewish children,

saving them from the horrors of the Holocaust.

Jan Čižinský, the mayor of Prague 7, praised Winton's "heroism, courage, and humility" during the naming ceremony. The street, when completed, will run past a railway station and memorials, commemorating the darker chapters of world history.

The street's dedication coincides with the 85th anniversary of the last planned Kindertransport from Prague, which was halted by the outbreak of World War II. Tragically, the 250 children aboard that final train were later deported to Nazi concentration camps, with only two surviving the war.

Winton’s remarkable efforts were recently portrayed in the film One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins. A former stockbroker, Winton was knighted in 2003 and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 106.

At the street-naming ceremony, four surviving "Winton children" were present, along with members of Winton’s family and representatives from the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR). Michael Newman, CEO of the AJR, expressed the symbolic importance of honoring Winton’s efforts, while also paying tribute to the parents who entrusted their children to an uncertain future and the foster families who took them in.

"In remembering Sir Nicholas, we also honor the courage of the parents and the generosity of the foster families who provided sanctuary to the youngest victims of Nazi persecution. It is our hope that the need for such salvation as the Kindertransport will never arise again," Newman said.

Winton's heroic deeds went largely unrecognized until 1988, when television personality Esther Rantzen reunited Winton with many of the children he saved, along with their descendants, in a moving episode of That’s Life.