Jane Haining’s jewellery was analysed by expert John Benjamin for a special episode of the iconic BBC One programme to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Her two nieces, Deirdre McDowell and Jane McIvor, took part in the programme, and Deirdre said: “It is emotional and truly wonderful that the BBC is making this special programme which provides us with the opportunity to tell Jane’s amazing story.
“She was such a courageous woman, very determined, considerate and kind.”
Deirdre and Jane discussed with Mr Benjamin the story of how Jane, from Dunscore, was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 for looking after Jewish girls at the Kirk-run Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary.
The former boarding house matron’s handwritten will, a copy of the last letter she wrote while imprisoned in the concentration camp and photographs also featured on the programme.
And the programme revealed fascinating new details about Jane’s long lost ring.
Reflecting on the TV programme, Jane McIvor, who is named after her aunt, added: “It was a very moving day and a great honour to be here amongst people who have tremendous stories of courage and resilience.
“Jane was an amazing woman and did such tremendous work at the Scottish Mission in Budapest.”
Miss Haining is believed to have perished in the gas chambers, and was posthumously named as Righteous Among the Nations in Jerusalem’s sacred Yad Vashem in 1997 and awarded a Hero of the Holocaust medal by the UK Government in 2010.
