Scotland Office Minister, Kirsty McNeill visited Scotland’s first Stolperstein memorial in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January.
The “stumbling stone” outside St Stephen’s Church, was unveiled last November, to commemorate Jane Haining, the Church of Scotland missionary and school matron who died in Auschwitz-Birkenau after refusing to abandon Jewish girls in her care.
Ms Haining was a missionary who went to the Church of Scotland school in Budapest where she cared for around 400 day and boarder pupils, a mix of Christian and Jewish children. She was betrayed by the cook’s son-in-law who had tried to take scarce food. When she gave him a row for this, he revealed what she was doing and she was arrested by German officers in April 1944. She never returned to the school, although she left promising she would be back by lunchtime.
Ms McNeill was joined by The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, The Rt Reverend Rosie Frew, and Edward Green representing the Edinburgh Jewish Community. Mary Miller, author of the biography Jane Haining: A Life of Love and Courage also attended and all four laid a white rose on the Stolperstein to remember Jane Haining.
The arrangements for the first stone of this kind in Scotland were backed by Edinburgh Central MSP, Angus Robertson.
Ms McNeill said: “I did know the story of Jane Haining, and I think one of the things that inspires in all of us is really a dialogue in ourselves about what’s the true story of humanity? Is it the righteousness of someone like Jane who stood up and protected these children as best she could for as long as she could, or is it the darkness of the fact that millions and millions of men, women and children were murdered simply for being Jewish.
“So it calls on all of us, I think, to reflect about the worst that humans can do to one another, but also when we respond with humanity and fellowship and solidarity, the best that we can do for each other too.”
“I would just encourage any of your readers to dig into the story of Jane Haining. She’s an ordinary Scottish woman who did the most extraordinary thing that echoes through history. Hopefully none of us will be called to do something quite as dramatic or as heroic as Jane. But we do all have the capacity in our everyday lives to make choices about who we stand with, and who experiencing vulnerability or pain we link arms with, and I think that’s really the story of Jane that everyone should take away.”
The Minister said she had seen other Stolpersteine across Europe and that it “forces moments of reflection”. She said: “I am so glad we have one in Scotland now but of course any opportunity to reflect and remember is welcome.”
Read more about the story of Jane Haining here.
Edward Green, Deputy Lord Lieutenant, City of Edinburgh, and member of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, said: “We need to remember people like Jane Haining, because we’ll soon forget if we’re allowed to. And if we forget, then we’ll keep on repeating the same mistakes. So remembering Jane Haining is only one part of remembering the past. We’ve had a tragic past. We really have. And the world has been through so much.
“It’s amazing the emotions, a visit to a monument like this does. It reminds me that there are good people in this world. That despite all the tragedy that we all witness day by day, there are good, decent people in this world and often good, decent people pay the ultimate sacrifice, as she did.”
Rt Rev Rosie Frew, Moderator of the General Assembly, said: “We are delighted that a “Stolperstein” has been laid in memory of Jane Haining, who was the matron of the Scottish Mission School in Budapest in the 1930s and 1940s.
“After the Nazis rose to power she taught domestic service management to Jewish women to help them emigrate to the safety of the UK, and when the war broke out in 1939 she showed tremendous courage by continuing to look after her young charges, many of whom were orphans or abandoned by their parents, in the face of escalating danger.
“An inspirational woman of deep faith, she was fully aware of the extraordinary risks she was taking but repeatedly refused Church of Scotland pleas to leave the Hungarian capital and return home to Scotland as the war engulfed Europe.
“Jane was determined to continue doing her duty and stick to her post and famously said ‘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.
“It is a fine example of service over self-interest and we hope that this honour, the first of its kind in Scotland, will help keep her memory alive for generations to come.”
