THE niece of a Scot who gave her life to help protect Jewish schoolgirls during the Holocaust has paid an emotional visit to the Nazi extermination camp where she died.
Deirdre MacDowell said it was “overwhelming” to lead a memorial service to Jane Haining outside the block at Auschwitz-Birkenau where her aunt is said to have spent her final hours.
Haining may have written her last letter to Margit Prem, headteacher of the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, there.
Written in German on a letter-form headed Konzenstrationslager Auschwitz, it is dated July 15, 1944 – two days before Haining is said to have died at the age of 47. MacDowell, who was born in Dunscore near Dumfries – Haining’s home village – visited the camp with her husband George and representatives of the Unison trade union’s Renfrewshire branch.
Activists were on a study tour to raise awareness of the atrocities of the Holocaust and to honour Haining, a secretary at threadmaker company J&P Coates Ltd in Paisley for 10 years before she moved to Hungary in 1932.
She was a matron in the Church of Scotland’s Mission School for girls in Budapest, which had a mix of Christian and Jewish pupils.
The trip was led by Mark Ferguson, branch secretary of Unison Renfrewshire and a member of Unison’s international committee.
He said: “Observing first-hand the atrocities which took place instils a responsibility on us all to ensure future generations do not repeat these murderous acts.
“It was a very emotional experience for the delegates.”
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