Scotland Office Minister Kirsty McNeill visited Scotland's first Sloperstein memorial.
UK Government Scotland Office Minister, Kirsty McNeill 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 Kirsty McNeill 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.
