Czech students say Winton deserves Nobel Peace Prize

Czech students have collected more than 30,000 signatures under a petition for Briton Nicholas Winton to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for saving 669 mostly Jewish children from the Nazis by organizing transports out of Czechoslovakia before World War Two and finding temporary homes for them in Britain. The initiative has received support from Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg who said that he had already sent a letter to the Stockholm-based committee that decides about the prizes. Mr. Winton is currently in Prague attending Forum 2,000. He also met with Czech students and some of the children who survived the war thanks to his assistance. On Wednesday he is to meet with President Vaclav Klaus. In recognition of his brave deed Queen Elizabeth II promoted Nicholas Winton to knighthood and the Czech Republic awarded him the Tomas Garrigue Masaryk Order in 1998.