Jane Haining
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Jane Mathison Haining (6 June 1897 – 17 July 1944) was a Scottish
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
for the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary, who was recognized in 1997 by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
in Israel as
Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
for having risked her life to help Jews during the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. Haining worked in Budapest from June 1932 as matron of a boarding house for Jewish and Christian girls in a school run by the Scottish Mission to the Jews. In or around 1940, after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Church of Scotland advised Haining to return to Britain, but she decided to stay in Hungary. When Germany invaded Hungary in March 1944, the SS began arranging the deportation of the country's Jews to
Auschwitz II-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz ...
, the German extermination camp in
occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...
. Arrested by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
in April 1944 on a variety of charges, apparently after a dispute with the school's cook, Haining was herself deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in May. She died there two months later, probably as a result of starvation and the camp's catastrophic living conditions. Little is known about Haining's work in Budapest or death in Auschwitz. In 1949 a Scottish minister, the Reverend David McDougall (1889–1964), editor of the ''Jewish Mission Quarterly'', published a 21-page booklet about her, ''Jane Haining of Budapest''. According to Jennifer Robertson, writing in 2014 for ''PRISM: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators'', almost all subsequent publications about Haining depend on McDougall's booklet.


Early life

Born at Lochenhead Farm in
Dunscore Dunscore ( , less commonly ) is a small village which lies northwest of Dumfries on the B729, in Dumfriesshire, in the District Council Region of Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The village consists of about 150 people and has a chu ...
,
Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...
, Scotland, Haining was the fifth child of Jane Mathison and her husband, Thomas John Haining, a farmer, who had married in 1890. Mathison, herself from a farming family, died in 1902 while giving birth to the couple's sixth child, when Haining was about five. Haining's father remarried in January 1922 and died that June. Toward the end of the year, his second wife, Robertina Maxwell, gave birth to a daughter, Agnes. Haining grew up as a member of the
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Craig Church in Dunscore, part of the
United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), majority of the 19th-cen ...
. Educated at Dunscore village school, she won a scholarship to
Dumfries Academy Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which ...
in 1909, as her older sisters Alison and Margaret had done, where she lived as a boarder in the Moat Hostel for Girls. She graduated as the school
dux ''Dux'' (, : ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' coul ...
, one of 41 school prizes she was awarded, and left with
Highers In the Scottish secondary education system, the Higher () is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualifications ...
in English, French, German, Latin and Mathematics.


Career


Secretarial work, retraining

After graduating, Haining trained at the Athenaeum Commercial College in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, and from 1917 until 1927 worked in Paisley for J. and P Coats Ltd, a thread manufacturer, first as a clerk, then as secretary to the private secretary. During this period, she lived at 50 Forth Street,
Pollokshields Pollokshields (, Scots language, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok Count ...
, Glasgow, and attended the nearby Queen's Park West United Free Church, where she taught
Sunday School ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...
. According to Nan Potter, who attended the classes, Haining would buy the children cream buns for Twopence (British pre-decimal coin), tuppence ha'penny. It was around this time that she became interested in becoming a missionary. In 1927 she attended a meeting in Glasgow of the Jewish Mission Committee and heard Rev. Dr. George Mackenzie, chair of the committee, discuss his missionary work. She reportedly told a friend "I have found my lifework!" Her manager at work was ill at the time, so Haining stayed with Coats for another five months, then another year while he trained her replacement. There followed a one-year diploma course at the Glasgow College of Domestic Science, which gave her a qualification in domestic science and housekeeping. She took a temporary post in Glasgow, then in Manchester as a matron. In or around 1932 she responded to an advertisement in the Church of Scotland magazine '' Life and Work'', looking for a matron for the girls' hostel attached to its Jewish mission school in Budapest. The majority of the United Free Church of Scotland had united with the Church of Scotland in 1929.


Scottish mission

The Jewish mission ran a school for both Jewish and Christian girls in its mission building at 51 Vörösmarty Street.; . The Church of Scotland had established the mission, also known as St Columba's Church, in 1841 to
evangelize Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as persona ...
Hungarian Jews. The founding ministers, Alexander Black and Alexander Keith, along with
Andrew Bonar Andrew Alexander Bonar (29 May 1810 in Edinburgh – 30 December 1892 in Glasgow) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, a contemporary and acquaintance of Robert Murray M'Cheyne and youngest brother of Horatius Bonar. Life He w ...
and Robert Murray M'Cheyne, had been making their way to Jerusalem to spread Christianity, when Black is reported to have injured himself falling from his camel, as a result of which he and Keith decided to return to Scotland. They did so via Budapest, where their stay became protracted when Keith fell ill. The Archduchess Dorothea of Austria befriended them there, and the men were persuaded to establish a Scottish mission in that city.


Work for the mission

The Jewish mission committee sent Haining for further training at St Colm's Women's Missionary College in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
. Her
dedication Dedication often refers to various religious and secular ceremonies and practices such as: * Dedication (ritual) the ritual or ceremonial establishment of a purpose for a person, place, or thing ** Dedication of churches ** Child dedication, a C ...
service took place at St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh, on 19 June 1932, during a service presided over by the chair of the Jewish mission committee, Dr. Stewart Thompson. Haining left for Budapest the next day, seven months before
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
became
Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...
on 30 January 1933. The girls' home was on the third floor of the Vörösmarty Street mission building, and consisted of two bedrooms with about 16 girls in each room, as of 1932. Most of the students were Jews. McDougall wrote in 1949: "Not all the girls were Jewesses however, for it was considered wise to have a proportion of Christian girls among them." Haining wrote that the school had 400 pupils ranging from six to 16; 30–40 of them were boarders, either live-in or day boarders. These were the girls for whom Haining was responsible. Although Hungarian law did not allow religious conversion before the age of 18, she wrote, the school aimed to prepare its Jewish students for conversion to Christianity. The daily Bible lesson for all pupils included study of the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
. Haining made efforts to have part of the building converted to club rooms, so that the evangelical work could continue for girls who had left the school, as most did when they were 14 or 15.


World War II

When World War II broke out on 3 September 1939, Haining was on holiday in Cornwall with Margit Prém, the Hungarian head of the mission's elementary school. The women returned immediately to Budapest. They had hoped to take Haining's sister Agnes back with them for a visit, but the war changed their plans. According to McDougall, Haining wrote to someone: "The journey back was a nightmare—five changes, no porters, no hot food, crowded trains like Bank Holiday plus luggage, no sanitary conveniences fit to mention, two nights spent on the platform beside, or on, our luggage." In 1940 the Church of Scotland missions committee in Edinburgh advised her to return to Scotland, but according to McDougall she felt safe in Hungary and decided to stay. He mentioned her briefly in his book ''In Search of Israel'' (1941): "Miss Haining, the matron of the girls' home, stayed on after the others, and she is there still. By roundabout ways we hear from her sometimes." She wrote to someone shortly after the outbreak of war: From then on, particularly from 1941, Jewish refugees from all over
German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the governmen ...
began arriving in Hungary to escape the Holocaust. According to McDougall, Haining wrote to someone in or around 1938: "What a ghastly feeling it must be to know that no one wants you and to feel that your neighbours literally grudge you your daily bread." According to one colleague, she would rise at 5 am on market days to find food for the home and would carry the heavy bags back herself. She is reported to have cut up her leather suitcase to repair the girls' shoes. A pupil at the school told a filmmaker decades later: "We understood even as third-graders, that we are protected here, we are not harmed, we are protected, and we are equals. We could see, we could understand this, because they behaved accordingly." Rev. George Knight, the mission's superintendent, wrote in 1944, after Haining's death: "During those awful years of the 'war of nerves,' when refugees were pouring out of Germany into the comparative safety of Hungary, the Mission staff spent a hectic time attempting to aid those émigrés to continue their flight to Great Britain and the Western Hemisphere. We established a training school for prospective domestic servants and Miss Haining ... gave courses of lectures to Jewish refugees on British conditions."


German invasion of Hungary

On 19 March 1944, the German
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
invaded Hungary, and the SS immediately began arranging for the country's Jews to be deported to Auschwitz. SS-
Obersturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party ( NSDAP) which was used by the SA (''Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ' was juni ...
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...
and his ''Sondereinsatzkommando Ungarn'' ("special intervention unit Hungary") arrived in Budapest to take charge of the deportations. On 31 March a range of anti-Jewish restrictions were introduced, in force as of 5 April: Jews were forbidden from owning cars and radios, using telephones, moving home, wearing school uniform, or using public baths, swimming pools, public restaurants, cafes, bars or catering services. They had to declare any property except for a small amount of household items. Jewish lawyers, civil servants, and journalists were sacked, non-Jews were not allowed to work in Jewish households, books by Jews could not be published, and those already in existence could not be borrowed from libraries. Jews over the age of six were required to wear a 10 x 10 cm
yellow badge The yellow badge, also known as the yellow patch, the Jewish badge, or the yellow star (, ), was an accessory that Jews were required to wear in certain non-Jewish societies throughout history. A Jew's ethno-religious identity, which would be d ...
in the shape of the
Star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...
on the left chest of their outer clothing. Following the decree, Jews would be arrested for petty issues, such as wearing a star of the wrong size. In mid-April 1944 the SS began herding them into holding areas, including ghettos and brick factories, where they were held for weeks with little to eat.


Arrest


Charges

The Church of Scotland Jewish mission committee in Edinburgh wrote to the British Foreign Office around the time of the invasion of Hungary that it was "under a very deep debt of gratitude to Miss Jane Haining ... By her personal influence and faithfulness she has inspired such loyalty that the Budapest ewishMission has maintained its former high standards. Recent events have seriously altered the situation and the thoughts of the Church will be with erand her colleagues in the new difficulties that have arisen." In late April or early May 1944 (25 April, according to Bishop László Ravasz of the
Reformed Church in Hungary The Reformed Church in Hungary (, MRE, ) is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes also among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. It is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and four church districts and has a membershi ...
), two officers from the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
(the German secret police) arrived at the mission home to arrest Haining. They searched her office and bedroom, and gave her 15 minutes to pack. According to one colleague's diary entry on 30 April 1944, Haining was "now in the cellars of Police HQ. I asked he consulatewhy and was told that a charwoman denounced her of having a secret radio receiver". She was at first held in a house used by the Gestapo in the
Buda Hills The Buda Hills ( Hungarian: ''Budai-hegység'') are a low mountain range of numerous hills which dot the Buda side of Budapest, capital of Hungary. The most famous ones located within city limits are Gellért Hill, Castle Hill, Rózsadomb, , ...
, before being moved to Fő utca ("Main Street") prison. Her friends took her weekly parcels of food and clean underwear. According to a fellow prisoner, Miss Francis W. Lee, as told by David McDougall in 1949 (Lee survived the war and moved to New Zealand), Haining was questioned twice and had the following charges put to her: According to McDougall, Haining had been given permission by the Hungarian government to visit British prisoners of war, and she had indeed sent them parcels. After admitting the charges, except for the allegation of political activity, Haining was moved to the
Kistarcsa Kistarcsa () is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. A site of the Kistarcsa concentration camp during the Holocaust. Later an internment camp of State Protection Authority for political prisoners during the 1950s. Histo ...
transit camp. Her friends arrived at the Fő utca prison with food and clean underwear, but she had gone. Francis Lee wrote in July 1945 to Dr. Laszlo Nagy of the Hungarian Reformed Church: Bishop László Ravasz told the Scottish Mission in 1946 that he had tried to obtain support for Haining from Admiral
Miklós Horthy Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary Hungary between the World Wars, during the ...
, the
Regent of Hungary The regent of Hungary was a position established in 1446 and renewed in 1920. It was held by Admiral Miklós Horthy until 1944. Under Hungary's constitution there were two regents, one a regent of the ruling house, called the Nádor, and another ...
, who, Ravasz said, "learned of the case with deep regret and assured me of his sympathy for the Church of Scotland and all her workers". Ravasz also spoke to or met with the State Secretary Miklos Mester and the Hungarian prime minister, who, at the time of Haining's arrest, was
Döme Sztójay Döme Sztójay ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић, 5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian soldier and diplomat of Serb origin, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1944, during World War II. Biography Born in ...
. Ravasz understood that the prime minister had instructed an under-secretary to seek Haining's release, but Ravasz received no further reply to his inquiries.


Mass deportations to Auschwitz

In April 1944, the Germans began deporting Hungary's Jews to the German extermination camp
Auschwitz II-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz ...
in occupied Poland. The mass transports began on 15 May. Between then and 9 July 1944, the SS deported the Jewish community in closed
goods wagon Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types ...
s at a rate of 12,000 a day. According to
Edmund Veesenmayer Edmund Veesenmayer (12 November 1904 – 24 December 1977) was a high-ranking German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. He significantly contributed to the Holocaust in Hungary and in the Independent State of Croat ...
, Hitler's minister in Hungary, 437,402 Hungarian Jews were deported,. constituting almost the entire Jewish population of Hungary's countryside. Deportees were taken in Hungarian trains to the Slovak border, then transferred to German trains to be taken to southern Poland, a journey of about two days. Squeezed into the wagons in horrendous conditions, with little air, light, food or water, with buckets for latrines and no privacy, many people died during the journey. Gertrud "Trude" Levi was deported from Hungary to Auschwitz in 1944: From May 1944 the trains into Auschwitz II arrived on a new train spur that had been built to carry the Hungarian Jews directly into the camp. The three-track line, which stopped near the
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
s, meant that a new train could arrive while a previous one was being unloaded. The
crematoria Cremation is a method of final disposition of a corpse through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and Syria, cremation on an open-air pyr ...
could barely cope; the ''
Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ) were Extermination through labor, work units made up of Nazi Germany, German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the di ...
'' (prisoners forced to work there) had to start burning bodies in open fire pits. About 90 per cent of the Hungarian Jews who survived the journey to Auschwitz were sent to the gas chambers on arrival; the rest were selected for slave labour..


Haining's deportation, final letter

According to the Polish historian
Danuta Czech Danuta Czech (1922 – 4 April 2004) was a Polish Holocaust historian and deputy director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, Poland. She is known for her book ''The Auschwitz Chronicle: 1939–1945'' (1990). Background Czech wa ...
, Haining was deported to Auschwitz II on 15 May 1944. According to David McDougall, she was taken to Auschwitz along with 90 other prisoners from the Kistarcsa transit camp. One former pupil said that many of the Jewish girls from the Scottish mission also ended up in Auschwitz; a few survived. Selected for work rather than the gas chamber, Haining was given the serial number 79467 and probably had the number tattooed on her arm. She sent a postcard from Auschwitz, written in German, to Margit Prém of the mission school. (The card was forwarded on 1 August 1956 to the Church of Scotland's Department of World Mission.) Postmarked "
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
,
Oberschlesien Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heavy ...
", 21 July 1944, one side is headed "''Konzentrationslager Auschwitz''" ("
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
") and lists the rules for corresponding with prisoners. The other side is dated 15 July 1944, written in pencil:


Death

According to a death certificate that arrived in Edinburgh on 17 August 1944, Haining died in hospital, presumably in Auschwitz, on 17 July 1944, two days after the date written in pencil on her card to Margit Prém. Delivered courtesy of the German
legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legation ...
in Budapest and the Swiss government, the death certificate stated: "Miss Haining who was arrested on account of justified suspicion of espionage against Germany, died in hospital, July 17th, of
cachexia Cachexia () is a syndrome that happens when people have certain illnesses, causing muscle loss that cannot be fully reversed with improved nutrition. It is most common in diseases like cancer, Heart failure, congestive heart failure, chronic o ...
following intestinal
catarrh Catarrh ( ) is an inflammation of mucous membranes in one of the airways or cavities of the body, usually with reference to the throat and paranasal sinuses. It can result in a thick exudate of mucus and white blood cells caused by the swelling ...
." In June 1946, the Church of Scotland magazine '' Life and Work'' reported that the Scottish Mission in Budapest had received a letter about Haining from Bishop Ravasz in Budapest, describing his efforts in 1944 to bring her arrest to the attention of the Hungarian government. The final response he received was "a package which was delivered at the end of July to the Scottish Mission, and from which it could be ascertained that Miss Haining lost her life in a German concentration camp". Bishop Ravasz added to his letter: Haining's Bible was found in the mission home after the war,, cited in . and is on display in the mission building. Some of her belongings were found in 2016 in the attic space of the Church of Scotland's head office in George Street, Edinburgh. They included her handwritten will, dated July 1942, and over 70 photographs of the girls in the mission school. The items were placed in the
National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...
.Quigley, Elizabeth (14 September 2016)
"Documents 'shed light' on Scotswoman killed at Auschwitz"
BBC Scotland News.


Memorials

Little was known about Auschwitz when Haining died. Robertson writes that a 1944 Church of Scotland report stated that she had been sent to a "detention camp for women in Auschwitz in Upper Silesia", and her family's tombstone in the Irongray churchyard near
Castle Douglas Castle Douglas () is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in the ecclesiastical paris ...
placed her death in Germany. The Scottish Mission in Budapest unveiled a memorial tablet for her in 1946. In June 1948 two stained glass windows in her honour were installed in the vestibule of Queen's Park Govanhill Parish Church in Glasgow, where she worshipped. On 27 January 1997—
International Holocaust Remembrance Day The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an list of minor secular observances#January, international memorial day on 27 January that memorialization, commemorates Holoca ...
and the 52nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
, Israel's Holocaust memorial, recognized Haining as
Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
. Her name is inscribed on a wall of honour in the Garden of the Righteous in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. The honour is awarded to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Twenty-two British people had been recognized as of January 2018. Haining was the second Scot; Tommy Noble, a Scottish POW, was made Righteous Among the Nations in 1988. Other memorials to Haining include a cairn near Dunscore Church, made possible in 2005 by public donation, and a Church of Scotland "Jane Haining prize", which arranges an annual visit to Scotland for a Hungarian teacher and two students. In 2010 the city of Budapest renamed a section of an embankment after her: ''Pesti alsó rakpart'' ( Pest-side lower embankment, along the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
between the
Széchenyi Chain Bridge The Széchenyi Chain Bridge ( ) is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish e ...
and Elizabeth Bridge) became ''Jane Haining rakpart''. Also in 2010, the British government named her a
British Hero of the Holocaust The British Hero of the Holocaust award is a special national award given by the government of the United Kingdom in recognition of British citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. On 9 March 2010, it was awarded to 25 individ ...
. In 2016, a memorial event attended by former pupils of the mission school was held in Hungary and in 2017 Haining was again honoured by the city of Budapest in a new exhibition at its Holocaust Memorial Centre.
Karine Polwart Karine Polwart ( ) (born 23 December 1970) is a Scottish singer-songwriter. She writes and performs music with a strong folk and roots feel, her songs dealing with a variety of issues from alcoholism to genocide. She has been most recognised fo ...
, the Scottish singer-songwriter, wrote a song about Haining entitled "Baleerie Baloo" (named after the Scottish lullaby
Baloo Baleerie "Baloo Baleerie" is a Scottish lullaby. The title is alliterative nonsense based around the Scots word for lullaby, "baloo". As it is based on a recording in the BBC Glasgow Archives made on 22 January 1949 on the Shetland island of Bressay, it is ...
) for her 2006 album, '' Scribbled in Chalk''. In 2009 Raymond Raszkowski Ross based a play on her life, ''A Promised Land'', and New Zealand journalist Lynley Smith wrote a fictionalised diary, ''From Matron to Martyr'' (2012), based on Haining's life. In 2016 Haining was named in the video accompanying "Girl (Daughter of Scotland)", a Scottish women's anthem by Sharon Martin. BBC Scotland poet-in-residence Stuart A. Paterson wrote a tribute to Haining for National Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, "In Days of Darkness". Seventy-five years after her death the Church of Scotland's '' Life and Work'' magazine reprinted its 1946 article about her dedication and death: ' A Gallant Lady' who 'Faced the Gestapo'. On 10 June 2021, the
Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...
at its General Synod voted to include Haining in its calendar of saints and heroes. She will be remembered on 17 July. File:JaneHainingThalerTamas.jpg, Plaque at the Scottish Mission, Budapest File:Plaque of Notable Students at Dumfries Academy.jpg, Plaque at
Dumfries Academy Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which ...
File:Budapest - panoramio (28).jpg, ''Jane Haining rakpart'' ("Jane Haining quay"), Budapest


See also

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List of Righteous Among the Nations by country This is a partial list of some of the most prominent Righteous Among the Nations per country of origin, recognized by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. These people risked their lives or their libe ...
*
Eric Liddell Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprint (running), sprinter, Rugby union, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing dynasty, Tianjin, China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended bo ...
- Scottish Olympic Gold medal winner and Christian missionary who died in a Japanese Prison Camp in China in 1945


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Works cited

:''News sources and websites are listed in References only.'' On Haining * * * * * * * * * * * * * On the Holocaust or Jewish missions * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haining, Jane 1897 births 1944 deaths British civilians killed in World War II British people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp British Righteous Among the Nations British women in World War II British evangelicals Female Christian missionaries People educated at Dumfries Academy People from Dumfries and Galloway Presbyterian missionaries in Europe Protestant missionaries in Hungary Protestant Righteous Among the Nations Scottish Presbyterian missionaries Scottish expatriates in Hungary Scottish evangelicals British Heroes of the Holocaust