Trevor Chadwick
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Trevor Chadwick (22April 190723December 1979) was a British humanitarian who was involved in the '' Kindertransport'' to rescue Jewish and other refugee children in
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
in 1938–1939 before
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the
Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
annexed Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938 and occupied the whole Czech part of Czechoslovakia in 1939. The children were mostly resettled with families in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. In 2018, Chadwick was
posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...
named a
British Hero of the Holocaust The British Hero of the Holocaust award is a special national award given by the government of the United Kingdom in recognition of British citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. On 9 March 2010, it was awarded to 25 individ ...
.


Early life

Chadwick was born on 22 April 1907. He attended
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
where he was the captain of a rugby team and graduated in 1928 with a third in jurisprudence. His family and friends believed he should have done better. He was a troublesome youth and had a fondness for alcohol. After graduation, he joined the Colonial Service and worked in
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
for 18 months. He became a
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
teacher at his family's school in
Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil ...
,
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
and married in 1931. He was regarded as kind and considerate of others, but unruly and unconventional in his personal life. Chadwick was described by the poet
Gerda Mayer Gerda Kamilla Mayer (9 June 1927 – 15 July 2021) was an English poet born to a Jewish family in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia. She escaped to England from Prague in 1939, aged eleven, on a Kindertransport flight organised by Trevor Chadwick. Havi ...
, one of the Jewish children he sent to Britain, as tall and handsome, casual and self-assured.


Chadwick and the ''kindertransport''

In January 1939, Chadwick journeyed to Czechoslovakia to accompany two refugee children back to Britain where they had been admitted to his school. He met another refugee child, Gerda Mayer, in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, interviewed her and her family, and took her along with the other two children. Chadwick's mother sponsored Mayer, putting up the guarantee of 50 pounds which was required for the permission to admit refugee children to Britain. Chadwick described his initial reaction to the situation in Prague: "We got a clear impression of the enormity of the task. We so often saw halls of confused refugees and batches of lost children, mostly Jewish, and we saw only the fringe of it all." After delivering the first three children to Britain, Chadwick returned to Czechoslovakia to help rescue more children. Thousands were on a list for possible rescue, but he could only save hundreds. Working with the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia headed by Doreen Warriner, he had the task of selecting children for the kindertransport and organizing their departure. His first operation was an evacuation by a 20-seat airplane from Prague. Later evacuation of children was usually by train. Chadwick accompanied the children to the Prague Railroad Station. From Prague the children, with adult escorts, journeyed by rail through
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
to a seaport on the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
from where they sailed to Britain. In Britain,
Nicholas Winton Sir Nicholas George Winton (born Wertheim; 19 May 1909 – 1 July 2015) was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue children who were at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany. Born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at ...
worked to get permissions for the children to be granted entry. On 15 March 1939, the situation in Czechoslovakia became more dangerous. German troops occupied the whole Czech part of the country. The German crackdown stimulated a large market in forged passports and exit documents in which Chadwick was probably involved. Warriner and many other refugee workers found it prudent to leave the country and in early June 1939, Chadwick saw off a final trainload of 123 children and left Czechoslovakia. With his departure,
Beatrice Wellington Beatrice Wellington (born 15 June 1907 – died 1971) was a Canadian woman who worked to evacuate children from Prague during the early stages of the German occupation in World War II overseeing the operation of the Kindertransport from Czechoslov ...
became head of the British Committee and the evacuation of children continued. All together, until it was shut down with the beginning of World War II on 1 September 1939, the kindertransport escorted 669 children out of Czechoslovakia. Winton, who was honoured many years later for his participation in the kindertransport, acknowledged the vital roles in Prague of Chadwick, along with Doreen Warriner, diplomat Robert J. Stopford, Beatrice Wellington, Josephine Pike, and Bill Barazetti. Of Chadwick, Winton later wrote, "Chadwick did the more difficult and dangerous work after the Nazis invaded... he deserves all praise".


Later life

Chadwick's life took a downward trajectory after return from Czechoslovakia. He joined first the
Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
and later the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
but after several incidents, probably caused by his excessive drinking, was sent back to Britain from North Africa in 1942. He divorced his first wife and married again briefly. He worked at a number of jobs, but was diagnosed with
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and sent by his family to a sanitorium in
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. He married for a third time there and apparently achieved some happiness and stability, but suffered a stroke and died on 23 December 1979. At the time of his death the work of the Czechoslovak refugee workers was largely forgotten, but the public recognition of Nicholas Winton, beginning in 1988, brought some recognition to other members of the group.


Legacy

Chadwick is now commemorated in his home town of Swanage, Dorset, with a children's playground named after him in the Recreation Ground. A bronze sculpture of Chadwick with two children by local sculptor Moira Purver has been installed in the recreation ground; the statue was erected on 29 August 2022. Swanage Town Council approved in 2020 the installation of a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
commemorating Chadwick at
Swanage railway station Swanage railway station is a railway station located in Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Originally the terminus of a London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) branch line from Wareham, the line and station were ...
.Swanage Town Council Minutes, 24 February 2020, pp 4-5. He was a recipient of the
British Hero of the Holocaust The British Hero of the Holocaust award is a special national award given by the government of the United Kingdom in recognition of British citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. On 9 March 2010, it was awarded to 25 individ ...
award in January 2018 for saving Jewish lives. "Academics Doreen Warriner and Trevor Chadwick who worked closely with the ‘British Schindler’ Sir Nicholas Winton in Prague to organise the evacuation of hundreds of Jewish children from the then Czechoslovakia to Britain."
Alex Sharp Alexander Ian Sharp (born 2 February 1989) is an English actor. He is known for originating the role of Christopher Boone in the Broadway production of ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''. After graduating from the Juilliard ...
plays him in the 2023 film ''One Life''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, Trevor 1907 births 1979 deaths 20th-century British people Alumni of the University of Oxford Kindertransport Oxford University RFC players People from Swanage