Zuzana Marešová, one of Winton’s rescued children, dies at 94

Zuzana Marešová, one of the 669 mostly Jewish children sent from Prague to London at the outbreak of the Second World War in the rescue operation organised by Nicholas Winton and his colleagues, has died at the age of 94. 

Zuzana Marešová, née Spitzerová, was born on January 26, 1932, in Prague, into a religiously and ethnically mixed family. Her father was a Czechoslovak Jew, her mother a Christian from Vienna.

Zuzana Marešová|Photo: Memory of the Nation

In the spring of 1939, her father left for England to establish a branch of his company, sensing that war was imminent. A few months later, in July 1939, her mother managed to send all three daughters to Britain on one of the rescue trains that left Prague shortly before the outbreak of war.

Speaking years later to the Memory of Nations project, Marešová said her memories of that time were blurred.

“I only have a very faint memory from that time. I knew we were supposed to go somewhere, and my mother showed me a book with beautiful pictures of flowers. She told me there would be flowers like that where we were going. I had loved flowers since I was very little.”

Winton statue in Prague railway station|Photo: Juan Pablo Bertazza, Radio Prague International

She was seven years old when she boarded the train at Prague’s Main Train Station together with her older sisters, Dita and Lily.

“I remember sitting on the train and seeing my mother standing on the platform, behind the glass, crying. I was only seven, but the image of all those parents in tears has stayed with me ever since. It was heart-breaking.”

As her mother later told her, there was also a dramatic moment before departure. In the confusion at the station, Zuzana went missing. Whether she had wandered off or someone briefly hid her was never clear, but the train’s departure was delayed until she was found.

Marešová spent nearly three years with a wealthy, aristocratic host family in Cornwall. She lacked nothing materially, but the household was emotionally reserved.

“They took good care of me in practical terms, but emotionally I suffered a great deal. I’ll give you one example. Once I fell and started crying, and I was told that an English girl doesn’t cry. You weren’t supposed to show strong emotions, so I learned to keep everything inside.”

Nicholas Winton with 'his' children|Photo: Czech Television

Zuzana was later reunited with her parents in Britain. They lived in London and in Wales, where she spent some time at a boarding school. Her father worked in the chemical industry and also served as a volunteer in the Home Guard. In 1945, they returned to Czechoslovakia, except for the eldest sister, who joined the US Army and remained abroad.

The post-war years brought new hardship. In the 1950s, the communist regime imprisoned her father, like many others who had worked in Britain during the war. Because of her family background, Zuzana later lost her job with the national airline ČSA.

After the Russian-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, she considered emigrating, but ultimately decided to remain in Prague. She was repeatedly interrogated by the secret police, first because of her father’s wartime ties to Britain, and later after her own daughter emigrated in 1984.

It was not until after the fall of communism that she learned the full story of her rescue in 1939.

Zuzana Marešová|Photo: Martina Schneibergová, Radio Prague International

“I only found out when Winton first came to Prague. I was invited to a reception at the Swedish Embassy. That’s where I met him for the first time and that’s where I found out how it all happened.”

In later years, Zuzana Marešová became active in preserving the memory of the Kindertransport. She was also among the initiators of the Memorial of Farewell at Prague’s main railway station, which commemorates the parents who had to say goodbye to their children in the summer of 1939, often not knowing if they would ever see them again.