Renata Lexova, PhD, professor emeritus in the UW Department of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, recently spoke to Wisconsin State Journal columnist Doug Moe about her experience as a child escaping Nazi persecution in Czechoslovakia.
In 1939, after the Nazis entered her hometown of Brno, Czechoslovakia, Lexova was transported to Manchester, England, through a program called Kindertransports. Sir Nicholas Winton, an English stockbroker, had brought the Kindertransports program to Prague, ultimately helping 669 children find safety out of the country.
Lexova, who was only eight at the time, lived in Manchester for seven years before reuniting with her parents in Czechoslovakia after the war.