A stamp to honour a British hero who saved hundreds of children from the Holocaust is likely to be issued by Royal Mail.
A petition calls for the stamp in memory of the late Sir Nicholas Winton, who was known as “Britain’s Schindler” for arranging for eight trains to carry 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to London in 1939.
Royal Mail said Sir Nicholas, who died at the age of 106 last month, “is definitely among the subjects for future consideration”.
The campaign, organised by the Jewish News, has attracted 65,000 backers, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and MPs including Conservative ex-minister Eric Pickles and Birmingham Edgbaston Labour MP Gisela Stuart.
Rabbi Mirvis said: “We frequently quote that famous truism ‘… all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’, yet we are rarely blessed to come across an individual who so emphatically triumphed over evil with such dignity and character”.
The petition was started by the Jewish News’ editor Richard Ferrer and news editor Justin Cohen.
Mr Cohen said: “We hoped to get many thousands supporting us but it has gone well beyond our readership and well beyond the UK as well. It is not surprising for someone who has achieved what he did”.
The petition says that while Sir Nicholas was honoured with a knighthood in 2003 “his name, and the lesson that one person can make a difference even in the face of overwhelming evil, must live on”. It adds: “The rare honour of a Royal Mail stamp would help to achieve that while at the same time being a fitting tribute to Sir Nicholas”.
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