The heroism of a Dumfriesshire farmer’s daughter is to be commemorated with a “stumbling stone” on the pavement outside St Stephen’s Church in Edinburgh.
It is the latest tribute recognising the selflessness during WWII of Scotland’s most prominent holocaust victim, Church of Scotland school matron Jane Haining, who was born in Dunscore in 1897.
In 1944 she died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland – where she was given the number 79467 – after refusing to abandon Jewish girls in her care at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest.
Next year marks the 80th anniversary of her death.
Holocaust victims are commemorated across Europe with small brass plaques or “Stolpersteine” – translated as “stumbling stones” – set permanently in the pavement outside places associated with the victim.
Now, Edinburgh City councillors have agreed to commemorate her with her own Stolpersteine outside the building where her dedication service for her mission to help Jewish children in Budapest took place on June 19, 1932. St Stephen’s Church building was sold by the Church of Scotland in 2014.
Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: “We are delighted that Edinburgh City councillors have voted in favour of buying and installing a “Stolperstein” in memory of Jane Haining, who showed tremendous courage in the face of intolerable evil during a dark period of history.
“A woman of deep Christian faith, she was fully aware of the risks she was taking but repeatedly refused Church of Scotland pleas to leave Budapest and return home to Scotland as the war engulfed Europe.
“Jane was determined to continue doing her duty and stick to her post, saying: “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.
“Her story is moving, humbling, heart-breaking and inspirational and we hope that this honour will help keep her memory alive for generations to come.”
SNP councillor Vicky Nicolson, of Edinburgh’s Inverleith Ward, is delighted her motion was passed: “Finally, Jane’s heroism during the Holocaust will properly commemorated, ensuring future generations will remember her brave sacrifice.”
It is one of a growing number of lasting tributes to Jane’s life which is celebrated at Dunscore Church with an exhibition about her life inside and a memorial to outside.
Jane was dux at Dumfries Academy and is remembered on a prizegiving board and memorial.
There is also an exhibition to Jane at Queen’s Park Govanhill Church in Glasgow – the church she attended while living in the city prior to her move to Budapest.
A rollcall with her name on from St Colm’s College in Edinburgh where she trained as a missionary from February 1932 to June 1932 is kept at the Church of Scotland offices on George Street, Edinburgh. A new residential street in Loanhead, Midlothian, was named “Haining Park” in her memory in 2021.
Her family were given a posthumous award for her bravery by the UK Government in 2010.
