Memorial to brave missionary murdered by Nazis

Scotland's first brass Stolperstein plaque to Dunscore-born Jane

- RACHEL KEENAN, PA SCOTLAND

Scotland's first brass Stolperstein memorial plaque for a Scottish Holocaust victim was unveiled earlier this week as an MSP declared “we must never forget the victims of Nazism”.

The plaque is placed at St Stephen's Church in Edinburgh for Dunscore-born Jane Haining, who was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz.

The Stolperstein, or “stumbling block”, is a small brass plaque set into the pavement dedicated to someone persecuted by the Nazis.

The installation has been instigated by Edinburgh Central SNP MSP Angus Robertson and brings together leaders from the Christian and Jewish faiths, and representatives of the Hungarian and German governments.

Angus Robertson, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs and Culture, said: “We must never forget the victims of Nazism or the lesson from history that persecution and extremism can tragically return.

“Jane Haining left for Hungary to help Jewish children and rather than save herself she tried to protect them and died in Auschwitz.

“It is right that Scotland's first Stolperstein commemorates Jane Haining and many thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council who have made its installation possible, and to Gunter Demnig whose Stolperstein Project has become the largest decentralised memorial in the world.”