'WITH LOVE, JANE': A DOCUMENTARY ON JANE HAINING

Jane Haining was remembered by many as a martyr during the Jewish holocaust. Though a hero, it is surprising how little the general Hungarian Public know about her.  

Miss Haining was born and raised in Dunscore Scotland, and came to Budapest in 1932 to take the position of Matron of the Girls’ Dormitory of the Scottish Mission School on Vörösmarty Street.  When the II World War broke out she was ordered twice by the Church of Scotland to return to her home country. She chose to stay under her own responsibility and the reason she gave was that she would like to be with the girls in good and bad times. After the German Occupation she was arrested by GESTAPO and ended up in Auschwitz. She was suspected dead in July 1944 as this was the last time she had contact with anyone in the outside world.

On 26^th October 2014, Jane Haining was remembered in book and film.  On this day at 16.30 people gathered at the Scottish Mission building for a book and film launch. The event began with the sound of Scottish Bagpipes being played while a tour of the school she was matron of was carried out.

Reverend Aaron Stevens the current minister of the St. Columba's Scottish Church also know as th Scottish Mission gave an opening speech. He highlighted how Jane not only remembered for many reasons, but also in many ways, such as; plaques in Webster Hall the chapel of the Scottish Mission, the Olive Tree Memorial at the Budapest Synagogue, on a Budapest embankment road by the Danube named after her, and even in Vad Shahem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

Revd. Stevens’ speech ushered in the book launch. The book launched was the of the Hungarian translation titled 'From Matron to Martyr’ the work of New Zealand  author, teacher and journalist Lynley Smith which was published in Hungarian as  'A missziótól a mártírságig. In her introduction of the book, Ms Smith gave a brief history of Miss Haining’s life and mentioned the infact that her and Miss Haining are distant relatives. Part of the motivation for writing this book was to keep the memory of her relative and to also ensure that Miss Haining’s life is told especially to those in Hungary. Through months of research in Budapest, Scotland and Auschwitz the author Ms Smith wrote the book as a dairy of Miss Haining. 

After the moving tribute to Jane Haining, and very articulate introduction of her book, Ms Smith urged as all to be promoters of good among humanity. With this she invited Lídia Bánóczi the Producer of the documentary film 'Szeretettel, Jane' (With love, Jane – English) subtitles by Ikon Stúdió. Among those who spoke about the film were, Director: Gyula Kormos, Director of photography: Aurél Kiss, Music: Balázs Wizner and other support staff. Ikon Stúdió Egyesúlet is a non-profit independent film platform.

Ms Bánóczi the producer said that the making of the film was inspired by photos, letters and other documents she found among family items. Ms Bánóczi is actually a grandniece of the former director of the Scottish Mission School Margit Prém a friend and colleague of Jane Haining. The documentary film is a beautiful piece of work that is based on interviews of former pupils, colleagues, church officials and researhers; research of family and archive documents; visits to the Scottish Mission Budapest, and Dunscore Scotland. The documentary was filmed in Budapest and Scotland. It gives you a picture of Jane Haining’s life, remembers the holocaust and motivates us to respect humanity. Though not a religious based film, Miss Haining’s faith and Christian living is clear in the film.

After watching the film, there was a great reception with book signing and general conversation with the authors.

Njeri Wagana Hughes

https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Columbas-Scottish-Church/157065307699849

http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/jonathanknott/2014/10/29/with-love-jane-a-documentary-about-jane-haining-the-martyr-matron-of-the-girls-home-of-the-scottish-mission-in-budapest/

http://www.janehainingfilm.hu/

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/haining.asp