Diana Budisavljević

Diana Budisavljević
Born 15 January 1891
Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, Austria-Hungary
Died 20 August 1978(1978-08-20) (aged 87)
Innsbruck, Austria
Known for Humanitarianism
Spouse(s) Julije Budisavljević (2 March 1882 - 5 May 1981)[1]

Diana Budisavljević (née Obexer; 15 January 1891 – 20 August 1978) was a humanitarian of Austrian descent who led a major relief effort in Yugoslavia during World War II.

Early life

Born in Innsbruck, Diana Obexer married Dr Julije Budisavljević, an ethnic Serb[2] who at that time worked as an intern physician at the surgical clinic in Innsbruck. In 1919, Dr Budisavljević was appointed professor of surgery at the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, so the couple moved to Zagreb, at the time in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

World War II

During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis forces in April 1941 and the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia began a genocidal campaign against Serbs, Jews and Roma, setting up numerous concentration camps in Croatia. After she learned about children held at the camp Lobor-Grad, in October 1941, together with a number of collaborators, in particular Marko Vidaković and Đuro Vukosavljević, she launched a relief campaign named "Action Diana Budisavljević". The Action took care of mostly Serbian children but also women held in various concentration camps including the Jasenovac death camps.[3][4]

With help from the local Jewish community, which was forced to support the camp inmates, her team sent supplies of food, medicines, clothes and also money, first to Lobor-Grad and later to another camp at Gornja Rijeka, both situated north of Zagreb.

Out of 15,536 children that Budisavljević saved, 3,254 children died during the rescue or immediately after leaving the camp, exhausted by torture, hunger and disease, while more than 12,000 rescued children survived the war.[5] Eleven members of her team were killed during World War II. On the basis of transport lists and other sources, a card-file of children was made, which by the end of the war contained information of approximately 12,000 children. Upon a request from the Ministry of Social Politics in May 1945, she handed over the card-files that she had managed for four years together with Ivanka Džakula.[6]

Later life

Budisavljević was almost forgotten after the war, publicly unmentioned in Yugoslavia for decades, because the post-war authorities did not look favorably upon her.[2] She lived in Zagreb with her husband, for a total of 53 years before 1972, when they moved back to Innsbruck. She died on 20 August 1978, aged 87.

Legacy

Budisavljević granddaughter, Silvija Szabo, wrote that, as a 1980s Vjesnik story had described her as a mere Communist Party activist inside the Red Cross, which she knew had not been the truth, she decided to read Budisavljević's diary in 1983 to learn the full extent of her grandmother's deeds.[7] In 2003, the Croatian State Archives' director Josip Kolanović edited and published Budisavljević's war-time diary, translated from German to Croatian by Silvija Szabo.[8][9]

A Zagreb film production studio Hulahop produced a documentary about Diana Budisavljević, titled Dianina lista, and produced by Dana Budisavljević and Miljenka Čogelja. The documentary won the prize from the EAVE European Producers Workshop at the When East Meets West Forum in January 2012 in Trieste.[10]

On 15 February 2012, at the Serbian Statehood Day, the President of the Republic Boris Tadić posthumously decorated Diana Budisavljević with the Golden Medal of Miloš Obilić for courage and personal heroism.[2][11]

On 18 October 2013, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia awarded posthumously Diana Budisavljević with the high distinction of the Serbian Orthodox Church - the order of Empress Milica.[12]

Streets in Belgrade, Kozarska Dubica, and Gradiška have been named for Diana Budisavljević.[13] Her birthplace on Maria Theresia Street in Innsbruck is known as Obexer House.

Since May 2012 a park in the Eastern part of Zagreb has been named "Park Diane Budisavljević".[14] In October 2017, a park area with a memorial plate for children injured in Sisak concentration camp has named "Park Diane Budisavljević".[15]

The managing board of the European co-production fund Eurimages has, at its 147th meeting, held from 19-23 June 2017 in Bratislava, Slovakia, granted 160 000 EUR in support for the Croatian-Slovenian-Serbian co-production The DB Campaign (working title - Diana's List) by Dana Budisavljević.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Otimala decu ispod kame. In: Vesti-Online.com, 13. Mai 2011; siehe auch Slobodan P. Đorđević, Dr. Julije Budisavljević (2 March 1882–5 May 1981). In: Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo. Bd. 111, 1983, S. 861–864.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hrabrost Diane Budisavljević jača od zaborava". Večernje novosti (in Serbian). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Koljanin, Milan (2007). Akcija Diana Budisavljević (Tokovi istorije) (in Serbian). pp. 191–207.
  4. ↑ Dragoje Lukić, Rat i djeca Kozare (Beograd: Književne novine, 1990), p. 27
  5. ↑ Lomović 2013, p. 28.
  6. ↑ Kolanović 2003, pp. 284-85.
  7. ↑ Ajduković 2006, p. 8.
  8. ↑ Ajduković 2006, p. 4.
  9. ↑ Kolanović 2003.
  10. ↑ "'Dianina lista' hrvatskih autorica osvojila Trst". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 26 January 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "Tadić odlikovao Đokovića" (in Serbian). Radio Television of Serbia. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Diana Budisavljević posthumously awarded with high church dinstinction" (in Serbian). Serbian Orthodox Church. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Sl. Pešević. "Banjaluka: Diana Budisavljević da dobije spomenik i ulicu". Večernje novosti (in Serbian). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Park Diane Budisavljević" (in Croatian). Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  15. ↑ http://sisak.hr/usvojen-rebalans-proracuna-za-2017-godinu/
  16. ↑ "Croatian co-production The DB Campaign by Dana Budisavljević is granted support from Eurimages". Retrieved 16 June 2018.

Sources

  • Ajduković, Marina (October 2006). "Djelovanje Diane Budisavljević: Rad s djecom stradalom u 2. svjetskom ratu" [The Activity of Diana Budisavljević with the child victims of World War II]. Annual of Social work (in Croatian). Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. 13 (1). ISSN 1846-5412. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
  • Kolanović, Josip, ed. (2003). Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević 1941-1945. Zagreb: Croatian State Archives and Public Institution Jasenovac Memorial Area. ISBN 978-9-536-00562-8.
  • Lomović, Boško (2013). Knjiga o Dijani Budisavljević. Belgrade: Svet knjige. ISBN 978-86-7396-445-4.
  • Lomović, Boško (2014). Heroine from Innsbruck – Diana Obexer Budisavljević. Belgrade: Svet knjige. ISBN 978-86-7396-488-1.
  • Lomović, Boško (2014). Die Heldin aus Innsbruck – Diana Obexer Budisavljević. Belgrade: Svet knjige. ISBN 978-86-7396-487-4.
  • Mirković, Jovan (2014). Crimes against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia - photomonograph / Злочини над Србима у Независној Држави Хрватској - фотомонографија. Svet knjige Belgrade. ISBN 978-86-7396-465-2.
  • Kuehs, Wilhelm (2017). Dianas Liste. Tyrolia Innsbruck. ISBN 978-3-7022-3597-0.

Further reading

  • "Fontes issue with the Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević - Table of contents". Fontes. Croatian State Archives (8). November 2002. ISSN 1330-6804. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
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