A new group has been formed to promote the “living legacy” of Dumfriesshire World War II heroine Jane Haining.
Yesterday marked Holocaust Memorial Day and it was revealed that the Jane Haining Project is developing plans to launch a national essay writing competition in Scottish secondary schools and a digital heritage trail app that would include her links to Dunscore, Dumfries, Glasgow and Paisley.
Miss Haining’s selfless bravery in protecting children in her care at the expense of her own life – she died in Auschwitz – has led to her being posthumously awarded a Heroine of the Holocaust medal by the UK Government.
She is also the only Scot to be named Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem – Israel’s memorial to victims of the Holocaust.
The Dunscore-born Church of Scotland missionary was matron at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary, which educated Jewish and Christian girls, from 1932 to 1944.
She managed to keep the children safe from the Nazis for four long years of hardship until she was betrayed by a cook’s son-in-law, whom she caught eating scarce food intended for the girls.
A former Dux at Dumfries Academy, who was fluent in Hungarian and German, she was arrested by two Gestapo officers in March 1944.
She was initially imprisoned in Budapest on eight charges, which included working amongst the Jews, being involved in politics and weeping when seeing the girls attend class wearing yellow stars.
She vehemently denied meddling in politics but was transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland on May 14, 1944.
Jane was given the number 79467 and was murdered on August 7, 1944, aged 47.
Her life is celebrated in exhibitions at Dunscore Church and at Queen’s Park Govanhill Church in Glasgow. Last year a new street was named in her honour in Midlothian.
Now, a cohort of Christian and Jewish people are working together as The Jane Haining Project.
It emerged from the West of Scotland branch of the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) after author Mary Miller gave a talk about her book, Jane Haining: A Life of Love and Courage.
The committee is made up of 10 members including Mrs Miller and is chaired by Professor Anne Anderson, former vice-principal of the University of Glasgow.
Pam Mitchell, an elder at Dunscore Church and an authority on Jane, is also a member. She was one of the key figures who established the Haining exhibition in the heritage centre at Dunscore Church, where there is a memorial cairn.
The Rev Ian Alexander, a member of the project committee, said: “Jane Haining showed tremendous courage in the face of intolerable evil and her heart-breaking and inspirational story is as important today as ever.
“We hope that the exciting two core activities that are currently being developed will help keep her memory alive for generations to come.”
James Roberts, of the CCJ, said: “Jane Haining’s story is one that young people can identify with and it evokes a strong emotional response.
“By refusing to be a bystander, she demonstrated her loving kindness, her sense of fairness, justice and solidarity and her contempt of discrimination in her refusal to treat her Jewish pupils as ‘the other’.
“In this light, the project aims to increase understanding, acceptance and kindness between individuals from different cultures and religious backgrounds and equip people to speak out against prejudice and take action to challenge anti-Semitism and discrimination.”
He added: “The Jane Haining Schools Competition will be centred around her inspirational life and accompanied by a suite of appropriate educational resources about the Holocaust and seeks to connect her story to contemporary issues.
“We are in the early stages of development and hope to work with a group of teachers in pilot schools to create the material which will also draw on expertise from Holocaust educators and people who know Miss Haining’s story.”
Mr Roberts said: “We hope we can work towards having the resources embedded in the national curriculum because Holocaust education is not compulsory in Scotland whereas it is in England.”
