‘Scotland’s Schindler’ to be Honoured for Sacrifice
Jane Haining – ‘Scotland’s Schindler’
A missionary from Dunscore near Dumfries has been described as “Scotland’s Schindler” after she sacrificed her life at Auschwitz-Birkenau is to finally be honoured by the Prime Minister.
Jane Haining was a Presbyterian teacher who was deported to Budapest after refusing to sew the Star of David on her pupils. In wearing the star Nazis would have identified which of her 400 orphans at her school were Jewish and thus would have led them to their deaths in the extermination camps.
Ms Haining chose to stay in Budapest protecting the children rather than return to Scotland. Official reports state that she died from a disorder which causes a lack of appetite and fatigue in March 1944. But it is now widely believed that she was executed – one of only 10 Scots to have been killed by the Nazis in the death camps.
Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah recently visited Aushwitz-Birkenau where he agreed to the post-human award to acknowlege Ms Haining’s extraordinary acts of bravery which led her to being sent to the camp for “espionage offences’ against Germany.
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said:“Jane Haining is one example of an ordinary woman who found herself in a position to help persecuted Jews. By deciding not to stand by, she risked and ultimately sacrificed her own life,to care for Jewish Children.”
Ms Haining reputedly said of her pupils: “If these children need me in the days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in the days of darkness.”
Tagged
