Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New book details Scottish woman Jane Haining’s mission to save Jews during Holocaust

© Church of Scotland / PA WireJane Haining
Jane Haining

A Scottish woman saved many Jews from the Holocaust by helping them to emigrate to the UK, a new book has revealed.

Jane Haining assisted Hungarian women in securing jobs as domestic servants for five years before she was taken to Auschwitz, where she died in 1944.

She was arrested by the Gestapo on eight charges including working among Jews in her care at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary.

A new book by Mary Miller reflects the “ordinary, yet extraordinary” life of the woman from Dunscore, Dumfries and Galloway, and casts fresh light on her work at the school from 1932 until her death.

In it, Miller writes: “Jewish refugees from countries swallowed up by the Nazis were pouring into Budapest, still believing the situation of Jews to be less life-threatening in Hungary than in the surrounding countries.

“They believed … the only way to save the Jews was through emigration, and by February 1939 the Mission was putting on courses in farming, cattle breeding and other subjects to help refugees to get jobs abroad.

“Jane Haining taught domestic management and gave lectures on social life in Britain.

“(Rev) George Knight commented that Jane Haining was an able teacher, many a housewife in Britain can testify who received into her home a refugee domestic servant from Hungary.”

She refused to come back home after war broke out 1939 and insisted the Jewish and Christian girls in her care needed her in the “days of darkness”.

After being arrested by “German officers” in April 1944, she never returned to the Scottish Mission and died at the camp – branded prisoner 79467 – aged 47.

She is officially recognised at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Israel, and received a British Hero of Holocaust medal from the UK Government.

The book, Jane Haining – A Life of Love and Courage, also discusses the objective of the school, which had around 400 pupils, most of them Jews.

Miller writes the school aimed to “educate Jews and Christians together in order to fight the anti-Semitism that was endemic”.

She added: “(Jane) did not compromise and in our own difficult times there is a challenge there for all ordinary people tempted to look away from evil and find reasons to say ‘there is nothing we can do’.

“Jane Haining reminds us that there is always something we can do.”