Dozens of children rescued during the Holocaust gather to remember Britain's 'Oskar Schindler'

A special memorial service was held to honour ‘Britain’s Schindler’

Sir Nicholas Winton received a knighthood in 2003 for services to humanity (Getty Images)

Holocaust survivors who were among among hundreds of children rescued by the man described as "Britain's Oskar Schindler' have attended a special service to honour the ‘unassuming’ hero who died last year aged 106.

Sir Nicholas Winton rescued the children in Czechoslovakia at the start of the Second World War.

His "Kinderstransport" operation enabled British families to take more than 600 mostly Jewish children to London instead of letting them be sent to concentration camps.

John Fieldsend, who is now 84 and a grandfather to seven, described Sir Nicholas as “an amazing man”.

Mr Fieldsend lost his parents and other members of his family in concentration camps. He said: “I think what we can learn is that one or two people can make a difference. He was not your public idea of a hero, very quiet, very unassuming. Even after the rescue, he really gave his life to charity.”

Kurt Taussig, who is now 92 and living in west London, lost all of his family except two brothers. He said: “We owe everything to him - myself, my family, my children, everything. He didn't look for fame or fortune, it was just something he did.”

Renate Collins was five when she left Prague on the Kindertransport. She recalled how 64 members of her family had lost their lives in the Holocaust.

The 82-year-old who is now based in Wales said she hopes Sir Nicholas realised how “incredibly appreciated” he was.

Among the other guests were survivors from Israel, America and the Czech Republic, along with many descendants of those rescued by the late Sir Nicholas.

The memorial, held at London’s Guildhall on Thursday, which would have been Sir Nicholas’s 107th birthday, was also attended by home secretary Theresa May and dignitaries from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

It was especially poignant as it took place against the backdrop of Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Mr Taussig, who was 15 when he left Czechoslovakia, said: “It is hard to put into words but what goes on now is vastly worse than what I experienced, which was just the beginning of the continental mess and concentration camps and so on.

“The sheer numbers of children and women involved is heartbreaking. I do what I can but there's a limit to how much one can help.

“This is happening all over the world, we're talking about millions of children in the Middle East, in Asia - you can name so many places. It is tragic, what goes on.

“We were so lucky because our problem ended the moment we arrived in London. We were taken care of, people looked after us - we had a home immediately from the start. There is no comparison.”

Sir Nicholas's son, Nick, told the service he hoped his father's example would continue to inspire others.

“It is his legacy to inspire and encourage all of us to be actively involved in our own communities. He's inspired me, my sister and many others I know, many of you in this room. And that is one of the ways his memory will live on and stay with us in the future,” he said.