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Harry Olmer, 95, received the honour from the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle on Wednesday afternoon.
He survived five years of forced labour in Nazi-occupied Poland before being evacuated to the Lake District in July 1945.
Mr Olmer told the PA news agency: “It was interesting and unique. It was the first time we became human beings again after the Holocaust.
“We started to live again and learn again – our minds were completely blank.
“It really was very important, the three months I spent there. I have very fond memories.”
Mr Olmer, who is a father of four and grandfather of eight, did not know any English when he was taken to the Calgarth Estate near Windermere with 300 other liberated Jewish children.
The story of the evacuees was portrayed in the 2020 film The Windermere Children.
Asked what it was like to meet Anne, he said: “She was very nice. She said how important it was that I do the work that I do. We talked about which concentration camps I was in.
“It is a unique experience and especially with what is happening with denials of the Holocaust and antisemitism as well.
“Now it is at its most important.”
Mr Olmer took evening classes for three years to get the qualifications he needed to study dentistry at the University of Glasgow.
After graduating in 1953 he worked as a dentist in the Army and then in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, until retirement in December 2013.
The story of the Windermere Children is currently told as an exhibition in Windermere Library but it has been a long-term ambition of the project’s team to design a purpose-built home to educate more people about the incredible story.
Ambitious plans to build a centre, estimated to cost in the region of £20million. to celebrate the story of the children is in the works.
