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 it 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’.
“She reminds us that there is always something we can do.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here