“It wasn’t until I was older that I realized how dramatic it could be and what a huge sacrifice it was for my mother to put us both on a train without knowing if she would ever see us again”.
Eva Paddock (née Fleischmannová) was born on New Year’s Eve in 1935 in Proseč, a small town in Czechoslovakia. When she was nearly three years old, her family moved to Prague. There, her father, Rudolf Fleischmann, was an active politician committed to democratic values and international solidarity. One of his most notable actions was helping the renowned German writer Thomas Mann obtain honorary, and later, Czechoslovak citizenship—an act of moral courage that drew the ire of the Nazi regime.
As war loomed and Rudolf realized that his political profile made him a target, the family began making plans to escape. As the situation for Jewish families became more perilous, Eva’s mother, Sonya, learned of a rescue initiative that would transport Jewish children to safety in Britain. These efforts would later be known as the “Winton trains,” after their organizer, British humanitarian Nicholas Winton.
In 1939, Eva and her older sister Milena were placed on one of these trains. They arrived safely in the United Kingdom, where the Radcliffe family took them in. A year later, their mother managed to reach England via Norway, as did their father. Reunited, the family survived the war. However, Czechoslovakia had changed. The 1948 communist coup made returning home impossible. The Fleischmanns remained in Britain and eventually became British citizens.
For decades, Eva did not know who had organized her escape. It was not until 1988, when she saw a BBC documentary, that she learned the name Nicholas Winton. Her sister met him soon afterward, and Eva met Sir Nicholas a few years later.