Amid the cobbled streets of Edinburgh, a new memorial has been dedicated to Jane Haining, a Church of Scotland school matron who perished in Auschwitz during World War II. Her legacy as a protector of Jewish students during a time of great peril is now marked with a brass plaque.
Jane Haining began her tenure at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary, in 1932, overseeing around 400 students, including Jewish children. Her dedication to these students marked her as a target during the war.
In April 1944, Haining was detained after being accused by the cook’s son-in-law of hiding Jews. As she was taken away, Haining reassured her students with the words, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back by lunch,” according to former student Agnes Rostas.
Haining’s arrest led to her imprisonment and subsequent deportation to Auschwitz alongside Hungarian Jews the following month. Forced into slave labor, she died a few months later at 47. Official records cite cachexia following intestinal catarrh as the cause of death, but it is widely believed she fell victim to the gas chambers.
Remembering a Heroine
Haining holds the distinction of being the only Scot named “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, a recognition given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, akin to the famed Oskar Schindler.
The commemorative plaque, a ‘Stolperstein’ or ‘stumbling block,’ was laid outside the former St Stephen’s Church in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. This piece is part of a larger project by German artist Gunter Demnig, with over 116,000 such memorials placed across 31 European nations. Haining’s marks the first in Scotland.
The Rt Rev Rosie Frew, Moderator of the Church of Scotland General Assembly, reflected on Haining’s bravery during the unveiling ceremony. “We are delighted that a ‘Stolperstein’ has been laid in memory of Jane Haining, who was the matron of the Scottish Mission School in Budapest in the 1930s and 1940s.”
A Legacy of Courage
Rev Frew highlighted Haining’s efforts to train Jewish women in domestic service management, a skill that could aid their relocation to Britain. Despite numerous pleas from the Church of Scotland to leave Hungary, Haining chose to remain with her students, famously stating, ‘If these children need me in days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in days of darkness?’
“She was simultaneously an ordinary and extraordinary woman and her story is one of heroism and personal sacrifice and reminds us that when we feel powerless, there is always something that we can do,” Rev Frew added, emphasizing the importance of selflessness.
The ceremony also welcomed members of Haining’s family and representatives from Scotland’s Jewish community. Haining’s memory is further commemorated with a Heroine of the Holocaust medal from the British government, a stained-glass window at Queen’s Park Govanhill Church in Glasgow, and a street named Haining Park in Midlothian.
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
