Balkans, WWII: 'Diana's List' Of Children Saved From Death Camps Revealed

[TomSea]

'Diana's List' Of Children Saved From Death Camps Revealed

Diana Budisavljejvic's passport photo from 1945. The Austrian woman is credited with helping rescue 7,500 mostly Serbian children from wartime Croatia's death camps.

In any Balkan country the names of war criminals are well-known. But the names of people who have moved humanity in a positive direction are often hidden from the public eye.

That is the case with Diana Budisavljejvic, whose heroics in rescuing thousands of lives during World War II-era Croatia went unrecognized for more than half a century.

A few years ago, Croatian film producer Dana Budisavljevic was visiting the former concentration camp at Jasenovac when her last name caught the attention of the memorial center's director.

"Have you heard of Diana Budisavljevic?"

When Dana said she hadn't, the director explained that her near-namesake had been directly responsible for saving thousands of children from concentration camps run by the Independent State of Croatia's fascist Ustase regime after the Nazi puppet state was established in 1941. She also presented Dana with a copy of Diana Budisavljevic's diary, published in 2003 by her granddaughter, Silvija Szabo.

The encounter piqued Dana's curiosity, and more discoveries were to follow. It turned out after some digging that her family was related to Diana's husband, Julije Budisavljevic, a respected surgeon, and that Dana's own grandmother had known the couple.

Continued: https://www.rferl.org/a/balkans-without-borders-diana-budisavljevic-children-death-camps/28632283.html