Agnes Rostas attended the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, learning of the death of Jane Haining 40 years after the war.
Recalling when Miss Haining was arrested after being betrayed, Mrs Rostas said: “On the morning of that day German officers were visiting Miss Haining and from our bedroom window across the hall, we could see her room. After hours of questioning we could see that the two officers were taking her away and as they were going down one set of stairs, we hurried to another set to follow them down," she said.
“We were sitting at the foot of the stairs crying and she looked back and said to us ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back by lunch’. That was the last time I saw her and I found out 40 years later she had died in Auschwitz,” she added.
Miss Haining was 47 when she died – her official cause of death was cachexia following intestinal catarrh - in the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1944.
The Church of Scotland was represented at the event by Rev Iain Cunningham, convener of the World Mission Council, and Rev Aaron Stevens, Minister of St Columba’s Church.
Mr Cunningham, Minister at Kirkton Church in Carluke, South Lanarkshire, said: “It was a privilege to be present at the opening of the exhibition.
“It is wonderful to know that many more people, especially those in Budapest, will get to hear the inspiring story of this quiet but courageous Scottish woman whose faith and love shone brightly in ‘the days of darkness’.”
Mr Stevens, who leads the church where Miss Haining worshipped between 1932-44, said there is much to commend about the exhibition.
“What I shall treasure are the preparatory meetings I had with the team of the Holocaust Memorial Centre,” he added.
“It was in those behind-the-scenes encounters I saw how her story had touched each of them on a personal level, and how dedicated they were to getting everything right.
“As a result of their hard work, anyone who visits the exhibition will be moved by her service and sacrifice.”
Rev Iain Cunningham at the opening
of a new exhibition about
Jane Haining in Budapest