By Tony Kan
“From Matron to Martyr” is a fictional diary of a real Scottish woman, Jane Haining, who remained in WW2 Hungary to care for Jewish girls at a private school. Her decision led to her arrest as a Jewish sympathizer and ultimately to her death in Auschwitz. Her sacrifice was recognized by Yad Vashem who named her as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.
The book describes her early years, the circumstances that fatefully brought her to Hungary and the work of the Scottish Missionary Society which opened a private school to provide education for Jewish girls. According to the book, the school gave religious instruction, but no pressure was exerted to convert students to Christianity.
For me, the unexpected gem of the book was the description of Anti-Semitism in Hungary at that time. Most Westerners would be unfamiliar with this portion of WW2 history. Yet, if her descriptions of persecution, ostracization and violence against Jews there are true, then it is high time that the world became familiar with it. I believe the author, Lynley Smith’s real message is that not much has changed in Hungary since the War, Hungarian Anti-Semitism is alive and well.
Together with other increasingly frequent reports of Anti-Semitic beliefs and prejudices in Europe, there is much cause for concern amongst those who abhor racial intolerance.
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