UK Government Scotland Office Minister, has visited Scotland's
first Stolperstein memorial in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, to mark
Holocaust Memorial Day 2026.
Stolpersteine (‘stumbling stones') are brass memorials created by
German artist Gunter Demnig, embedded in pavements outside the
last places of free residence of Holocaust victims.
The Stockbridge plaque commemorates Jane Haining, the Church of
Scotland matron originally from Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, who died
in Auschwitz after refusing to abandon Jewish girls in her
care.
When she was advised to return home following the outbreak of
World War II, she wrote: “If these children need me in days of
sunshine, how much more do they need me in days of darkness?”
She was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1944 on charges
including that she “had wept” when sewing the yellow stars on the
clothes of her Jewish pupils, as required by law. She died in
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on 17 July 1944, aged 47.
Located outside the former St Stephen's Church building, where
Haining's dedication service took place before she left for
Budapest in 1932, it was unveiled last November and is the first
Stolperstein anywhere in Scotland.
Minister McNeill was joined on her visit by representatives from
the Church of Scotland, the Edinburgh Jewish community, and Mary
Miller, author of the biography Jane Haining: A Life of Love and
Courage.
Minister said:
Holocaust Memorial Day is a moment to pause and honour the
millions of men, women and children murdered in the
Holocaust.
As we commemorate the six million Jewish lives lost, as well as
other victims of Nazi persecution and those who perished in
subsequent genocides, Jane Haining's memorial is a reminder of
the courage of those who remained steadfast in their support of
the Jewish community at a time of unimaginable darkness.
“It was a privilege to visit Haining's Stolperstein in
Stockbridge - Scotland's first. It can inspire us all to stand
firm in our humanity, reject hatred and indifference, and choose
compassion over fear.
We must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust, no matter how
much time has passed or how painful these stories are. Through
remembrance and reflection, our values of dignity, kindness, and
courage can be defended by every generation.
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.
