New exhibition in honour of Scots missionary opens in Budapest
A special exhibition honouring a Scot who died in Auschwitz has officially opened in her adopted home city of Budapest.
Cameron Brooks, Church of Scotland
the 85th anniversary of her arrival in Budapest, but 27 October is International Religious Freedom Day. Jane, a Scottish Presbyterian, a Church of Scotland missionary, came to Catholic Hungary and ended up saving Jews. She embodied what International Religious Freedom Day aims to commemorate and celebrate. In 21st century Europe, there can be no place for anti-Semitism, no place for Islamophobia, no place for religious discrimination or persecution of any kind," added Ambassador Lindsay.
Agnes Rostas, who attended the Scottish Mission School between 1942-1944, also spoke at the event.
The 81-year-old is a Jew and only learned of the mother figure's tragic fate decades later at a memorial event in St Columba's Church of Scotland , which is next door to what is now a state-run primary school.
The story of Jane Haining, who was given a death sentence for protecting Jewish school girls in her care, is on display at the Holocaust Memorial Centre in the Hungarian capital.
It features photographs, documents, letters and other artefacts relating to the brave and selfless boarding house matron from Dunscore in Dumfries and Galloway.
The exhibition was formally opened by the UK Ambassador to Hungary, Iain Lindsay, who spoke movingly about “this hero of Scotland and of Hungary.”
"Despite advice, warnings and orders, she risked her life in the darkest days of the 20th century to save young Jewish girls in a foreign country.
Her bravery and her courage was exceptional. She is Scotland’s only Holocaust hero and one of the few British Holocaust heroes who paid the ultimate price in the Holocaust. This is a fitting moment to pay tribute to Jane through this very special exhibition in this very special place," he said.
"It is not only the 120th anniversary of Jane’s birth and the 85th anniversary of her arrival in Budapest,