MOMENTUM is growing for a statue to be created in honour of a Holocaust heroine.

Supporters believe it would be an appropriate way to recognise the sacrifice of Jane Haining, who died in an extermination camp after refusing to abandon Jewish children in her care.

She encouraged Christian children to sew yellow stars onto their uniforms at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary, and taught girls to see themselves as equals.

Barrhead News: East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald is among those calling for more recognition for Jane Haining East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald is among those calling for more recognition for Jane Haining

Miss Haining sheltered the schoolkids for more than four years until she was arrested and eventually taken to Auschwitz Birkenau, in Nazi-occupied Poland, where she died six months before it was liberated.

East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald is among those backing the campaign for an official statue, insisting that Miss Haining, who previously worked in Paisley for the Coats thread firm, “embodied the best of us.”

Ms Oswald added: “She knew the terrible peril she was putting herself in but she was determined not to abandon the children in her care.

“It’s almost impossible to imagine the strength of character it took to ignore all the requests to come home and instead go on a journey which ultimately led to her death.

“She is a true hero and we can all learn from her determination and compassion.

“It’s right that we look at how to create a more permanent marker to ensure Jane is remembered long into the future.”

Miss Haining is immortalised in stained glass windows at Queen’s Park Govanhill Parish Church, in Glasgow, where she attended before moving to Hungary, and on a plaque on a cairn on Carlton Hill, in Edinburgh.

Barrhead News: Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP Mhairi Black also backed the calls for a statue Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP Mhairi Black also backed the calls for a statue

However, it is felt that an additional and more conspicuous memorial is needed to give her life story the public prominence it deserves.

Mhairi Black, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, described Miss Haining as “an inspiration.”

“She took on huge personal risk to protect people who were not able to protect themselves and that is a level of bravery we should all aspire to,” said Ms Black.

“We could all stand to be a little more like Jane Haining – and a statue would be a fantastic regular reminder to us all.”

Rev Ian Alexander, interim head of the Faith Impact Forum of the Church of Scotland, said: “We have worked hard to share the story of Jane Haining with as many people as possible since we found her handwritten will in an archive in 2016.

“We are pleased that there is growing recognition that she is a unique figure in Scottish history whose story of bravery, selflessness, compassion and faith inspires us all.”