More than 200 people are taking the train from Prague to London this week in a reenactment of the dramatic rescue of hundreds of children during the Holocaust. The children, most of them Jewish, were saved with the help of British businessman Nicholas Winton.
The reenactment will mark 70 years since the outbreak of World War II.
Winton, a 30-year-old stockbroker with no connection to the Jewish community, traveled to Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, on a mission to save local children. His own government, and others to which he turned, refused to help, claiming that his fears for the children's safety were groundless.
Winton refused to give up. With the help of friends, he funded trips to England for 669 children in one summer. In England, he put out advertisements looking for families to take in the children, and managed to find homes for each of them.
The 2009 train trip is taking place using a replica of a World War II steam engine train. The 1,300-kilometer (808 mile) trip will take four days; the travelers are scheduled to arrive in London on Friday.
Two hundred and eighteen of the passengers are relatives of the children saved by Winton, and 22 were among the original group of 669 who he saved. The survivors and their family members are joined by politicians and other public figures.
Upon their arrival in London, the passengers will be greeted by Winton, now 100 years old. Winton is now Sir Winton, having been knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth seven years ago in honor of his Holocaust rescue activities. Prior to that, Winton had kept his role in the rescue a secret for 50 years.