Jane Haining

'A biography as calm, meticulous and movingly humane as Jane Haining herself. Mary Miller has reclaimed the life of a woman who embodied the best of Scotland and the finest values of her faith - and done her proud' - Sally Magnusson

Jane Haining was undoubtedly one of Scotland’s heroines.

A farmer’s daughter from Galloway in south-west Scotland, Jane was a Church of Scotland missionary, and went to the Scottish Jewish Mission School in Budapest in 1932, where she worked as a boarding school matron in charge of around 50 orphan girls. The school had 400 pupils, most of them Jewish. Jane was back in the UK on holiday when war broke out in 1939, but she immediately went back to Hungary to do all she could to protect the children at the school. She refused to leave in 1940, and again ignored orders to flee the country in March 1944 when Hungary was invaded by the Nazis. She remained with her pupils, writing 'if these children need me in days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in days of darkness’.” Her brave persistence led to her arrest in by the Gestapo in April 1944, for "offences" that included spying, working with Jews and listening to the BBC. She died in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz just a few months later, at the age of 47. Her courage and self-sacrifice, her choice to stay and to protect the children in her care, has made her an inspiration to many.

„O biografie la fel de calma, meticuloasa si emotionant de umana ca si ea insasi Jane Haining. Mary Miller a recuperat viata unei femei care a intruchipat cele mai bune din Scotia si cele mai bune valori ale credintei sale - si a facut-o mandra "- Sally Magnusson Jane Haining a fost, fara indoiala, una dintre eroinele Scotiei. Fiica unui fermier din Galloway, in sud-vestul Scotiei, Jane a fost misionara a Bisericii Scotiei si a mers la Scoala de Misiune Evreiasca Scotiana din Budapesta in 1932, unde a lucrat ca matrona a unui internat responsabil de aproximativ 50 de fete orfane.