Abstract
The Diary of Diana Budisavljević was published in Zagreb in 2004. Through diary entries made from 23 October 1941 to 13 August 1945, the Austrian Diana Budisavljević, wife of a prominent Zagreb doctor, Julije Budisavljević, describes her personal commitment and the involvement of her co-workers in organizing and providing assistance to Serbian Orthodox women and children detained in the Ustaša concentration camps in an operation called the “Action of Diana Budisavljević”. The diary is a remarkable historical document of a short but brutal period in Croatian history, written from the perspective of a woman who found the strength and courage to think freely, act freely, and provide an active civil resistance to the fascist Ustaša regime in extremely difficult war conditions. Her resistance has all the characteristics of being heroic and progressive, and it should have a place in Croatia’s positive historical heritage.
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Notes
- 1.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004). Prof. Silvia Szabo, the granddaughter of Diana Budisavljević translated the text of the diary from the Austrian version of German and prepared it for printing. Diana began to work on the text of the Dnevnik (or the Diary) that she called “Report on Work of the Action of Diana Budisavljević” (“Izvještaj o radu Akcije Diana Budisavljević”) in May1945, during the war, based on almost daily guided stenographic notes. Unfortunately, in the introductory part of the book that is not highlighted, so the assessment of some events that are clearly written later on, after the date mentioned in them, is a bit confusing. Some of these parts talk about family life, and disagreements with some of the participants of the action were omitted from the Diary. Due to a lack of funds, the printing of the entire German text did not go ahead, and the book is just a short presentation of the most important parts of the “Action” in German. The statement of Dragoje Lukić in the book Bili su samo deca, Jasenovac grobnica 19.432 devojčica i dečaka, book 1–2, (Beograd: Muzej žrtava genocida, 2000), on page 99 (note74) is wrong when it states: “The Diary of Diana Budisavljević in German, 388 diary entries on 163 densely typed pages translated by professor Silvia Szabo, Diana’s granddaughter, was prepared for the press in the National Park Kozara in Prijedor and Jasenovac Memorial Site but it has not been published due to the war activities in 1992” is incorrect. Milan Koljanin has the same argument in his article “Akcija Diane Budisavljevic” in Tokovi istorije, no. 3 (2007), p. 191. The truth is that Dragoje Lukić got the text of the Diary from Ana Požar, the former director of the Jasenovac Memorial Site, and it is completely unauthorized, Silvija Szabo gave no permission and was never even consulted on the matter of the diary being published in 1992.
- 2.
Dr. Julije Budisavljević (Požega, 1882–Innsbruck, 1981), a physician and university professor, studied medicine in Innsbruck, and from 1919 was a professor of surgery at the Medical Faculty in Zagreb and became the first head of the Department of Surgery. In 1936 he became a dean of the School of Medicine. In the period of the Independent State of Croatia (ISC) he was retired, and was re-activated after the war (until 1952). In 1972, together with Diana, he moved to Innsbruck. According to the recollections of Silvija Szabo, he was fully dedicated to work and medicine. Even during the war, after 1944, when he was retired, he was running his practice from his apartment on the Svačić Square in Zagreb. In the court proceedings against Alojzije Stepinac, he was one of 35 witnesses proposed by defense attorneys, “but the court had let in only seven. In the lobby university professors of Orthodox religion, Dr. Julije Budisavljević, Dragišić … were waiting for hours and hours” Aleksa Benigar, Alojzije Stepinac—Croatian cardinal (Zagreb: Glas Koncila, 1993), p. 544.
- 3.
Journalist Nataša Koprivnjak in her presentation of the Diary in the biweekly Zarez, no.128, 22 April 2004 writes: “It is a book that reveals the unknown to the general public about saving thousands of children from Ustaša camps and collection centers organized by a woman whose name was not recorded in any history textbook nor in a street that was named after her, who was not given any public recognition.” Serbian writer Svetlana Velmar Janković stated: “… the activity of Mrs. Diana Budisavljević and her co-workers to assist women in the camps in front of the whole of Zagreb and Ustaša authorities during the years1941 and 1942 are among those paradoxes, or better to say wonders why human behavior, as well as life itself, remain the biggest secret”, Lagum, (Beograd: Stubovi kulture, 2006), p. 155. Doctor of psychology Marina Ajduković comments: “The writing style is more focused on the facts and description of events and less on personal perspective and reflection. It is precisely this style that contributes to the powerful message of this book about the suffering of people in war and selfless social activists who, at the cost of their personal health and safety, persisted in their work. “Djelovanje Diane Budisavljević: Rad s djecom stradalom u 2. svjetskom ratu”, in Ljetopis socijalnog rada, vol. 13, no. 1, (2006), pp. 101–114.
Milan Koljanin, a Serbian historian, stated: “The publishing of the Diary of Diana Budisavljević is extremely valuable for those who explore issues of suffering in ISC, especially Serbs and Serbian children in the camps, and for the general public as well. Thanks to this diary we learned many new facts about one of the largest humanitarian actions on the territory of Yugoslavia during World War II, and one of the largest actions of this kind Europe-wide.” “Akcija Diana Budisavljević” in Tokovi istorije, no. 3 (2007), p. 191.
- 4.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), pp. 14–15.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 15.
- 6.
The Lobor grad camp was close to Zlatar, and it was located in the castle of the Keglević family where, before the war, there was a nursing home. The camp commander was Karl Heger, a watchmaker from Zagreb, who was a member of the German national group (Volksdeutsche). The first female detainees and their children were transported to this camp on 5–6 October 1941, from the Krušćica camp near Travnik. The majority of these women were Jewish, then about 370 Serbian women from Bihać, Sarajevo, Mostar, and Stolac. Although the camp had a capacity of 800 people, there were 1700 women with children living in terrible conditions. Due to non-hygienic living conditions and spotted typhus and other infectious diseases, hunger and physical exhaustion, according to published data, around 200 women and children died. The camp was closed in August 1942, when all Jewish women and children were transported to Auschwitz where they all died. A group of Orthodox women was sent to forced labor to Germany, the other group was transported to Belgrade, and only a small number were released. The Jewish religious community in Zagreb had to fully support the camps in Lobor grad and Đakovo, and help the detainees in the camp at Jasenovac.
- 7.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 17.
- 8.
Dr. Savo Besarović, a prominent lawyer from Sarajevo, was appointed to the ISC government in October 1943 as a minister with no portfolio. He was a member of this government until it failed, and he was the only one from the government who, during the days of the government failing, decided to stay in the country no matter what.
- 9.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 28. Kamilo Bresler (Mrkonjić Grad, 17 July 1901—Zagreb, 1 November ), a teacher of pedagogy and a social worker. (Many people misspell his name as Bressler or Brössler. In all the documents, he always signed himself as Bresler). He finished pedagogy at the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb. Due to a heart condition he was not required to serve in the army. From 1928 to 1940 he worked as a teacher at the School of Public Health in Zagreb, where he became a significant author of scientific-educational and documentary films. During the period of the ISC he was head of the Department for Family and Children Welfare of the General Directorate for Associations and Social Welfare, which operated under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As an experienced social worker who had already worked with many health care professionals, heads of nursing schools and educators, as well as placing orphans in foster families, he had the ability and power to organize transportation, accommodation, food and medicine and other things necessary for children’s shelters and homes where children, taken out of the camps, were accommodated. Due to his cooperation with the “Action” and care for the Serbian Orthodox children, on 3 April 1943, the Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia, Ante Pavelić, in accordance with his provision brought on 26 March 1943, dismissed him from being a member of the Central Management Board of the Croatian Red Cross, and a few days later, on 5 April 1942, he was also relieved of duty as a head of the Department for Family and Children Welfare. After that he was transferred to work at the International Red Cross. He continued to work with Diana until the end of the war. His writings and statements to the Land Commission for the Determination of the Crimes Committed by the Occupiers and their Supporters were an invaluable source for all researchers dealing with the topic of the suffering of children during World War II. In February 1947, he wrote a touching testimony, “Rescuing the Kozara children 1942”, which was first published by Ćiril Petešić in his book Dječji dom u Jastrebarskom. Dokumenti (1939.1947) (Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnjost, 1990), pp. 108–129. One copy of the text Bresler, with sincere and deep respect, dedicated to Lady Diana Budisavljević, who was the initiator of the salvation of Kozara children in warm memories of rainy days in 1942. He described the meeting with Diana (who he refered to as “Mrs. D.”) in the following words: “One day a lady enters my office. She introduces herself and I reckon she must be a wife of one of our prominent scientists. She asks me if I have any detailed information about hundreds and thousands and even more children in the camps from Stara Gradiška to Jasenovac who are doomed to die unless something is done in order to save them… Thousand thoughts running through my head: In the entire ISC there are barely 4000 already occupied beds for children, and here we are talking about thousands of new children…I wish there was only a roof over their heads…and the staff! Sick children… how many people are needed?…and the transportation and the escort? Where do we get the supplies, dishes, food? I need a month’s time to make preparations—but at that point there will no longer be any children. The big, dark and reasonable eyes of the lady are silently examining my face—asking, begging and requesting.” Ćiril Petešić, Dječji dom u Jastrebarskom Dokumenti (1939.1947) (Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnjost, 1990), pp. 108–129. The original document, owned by Silvija Szabo.
- 10.
The orginal document owned by Silvija Szabo.
- 11.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 15.
- 12.
I bid., p. 31.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 43. The camp Gornja Rijeka, close to Križevci, was founded in November 1941. The first detainees were elderly Jewish women and Serbian Orthodox women with children, who were transported from the close-by Lobor grad. There were about 200–400 women detainees in the camp. At the end of May 1942, the women's camp was closed down, and starting from June 1942, the “Children’s home for refugee children” was located there. The camp Đakovo was organized in December 1941, in the facilities of the former mill called “Cereale”. The first detainees were Jewish women (1870) and around 50 Orthodox women. By the time their numbers increased to 3000, mostly because of the poor hygienic conditions, a scrub typhus epidemic spread in the camp and it was brought by the infected women detainees transported from Stara Gradiška. Apparently due to the typhus epidemic, the camp was closed down, and the women detainees were transferred to the camp Jasenovac, where they were all probably killed.
- 14.
Ibid., p. 35. Dragica Habazin, a volunteer nurse from the Red Cross. In her statement to the Land Commission for the Determination of the Crimes Committed by the Occupiers and their Supporters immediately after the war, she calls Diana “Mrs.”, a title not commonly used in the postwar period among “comrades”. Jana Koch describes Dragica Habazin in these words: “Most of the credit for all these connections” (with train drivers, conductors, station police, author’s note) “deserves the nurse Dragica Habazin, who was in charge of these stations. She was tireless, dedicated and truly brave. She was known as “Mother”. She really deserved that name.” Jana Koch, “Many of our children were saved” in Zbornik sjećanja 1941–1945 (Zagreb: Gradska konferencija SSRNH, Institut za historiju radničkog pokreta, Školska knjiga, 1984), p. 278. There is not a single word about Dragica Habazin in the Croatian Encyclopedia either.
- 15.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), Annex no. 28, pp. 200–201.
- 16.
Ibid., p. 58.
- 17.
Otpor u žicama, sećanja zatočenika, Knjiga I (Beograd: Vojnoizdavački zavod, 1969), p. 529.
- 18.
According to the list of names of the victims in concentration camps at Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška 19 911 children under the age of 14 were killed. See: http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr
- 19.
Battle on Kozara, Kozara epopee, Third enemy offensive, Operation West Bosnia (19 June–15 July 1942), in order to destroy the partisan forces completely (4000 Partisans of the First and the Second Military Border National Liberation Partisan Unit and the First Military Border Brigade of the National Liberation Army–NOV–of Yugoslavia) in the area of west Bosnia where they controlled cities such as Bosanski Petrovac, Drvar, Glamoč, and Prijedor, and where, due to the commando actions, they endangered the safety of the main communication towards the Eastern Balkans and the nearby iron mine Ljubija, Paul Bader, a military commander in Serbia gave the order to organize combat groups in «West Bosnia» and a military action in order to completely destroy the Partisan forces in the wider area of Kozara. Eleven thousand soldiers of Wermacht took part in this action, and around 18,000 members of the Ustaša-defence forces and 20,000 Chetniks of Draža Mihailović. The concentrated attack began on June 1, 1942, from all garrisons in order to surround the whole area and to form barriers that the Partisan forces could not break through if they wanted to withdraw. On 3 July 1942, after an extensive fight, the members of the Second Military Border Unit succeeded in breaking the military circle in the southwest part of Kozara Mountain, taking with them some civilians, while the majority remained in the circle, and all efforts to help them proved unsuccessful. At dawn, the circle was closed again. In the next two weeks “cleansing” took place in Kozara and the adjacent area from the remaining Partisan forces and civilians depriving them of the base and giving them no possibility to survive. The way they treated the civilians was especially brutal. Some of them were killed on the spot, and the great majority were transported to reception and detention camps. According to the estimates of ISC Health Services in Bosanska Dubica (railway station at Cerovljani) there were 26,000, in Jasenovac 8400, in Mlaka 7000, on Jablanac 4000, in Prijedor 14,000, in Stara Gradiška 1 300 and Novska 7 300 people, mostly old men and women with children. Dragoje Lukić, Zločini okupatora i njegovih suradnika nad decom Kozarskog područja 1941–1945. godine, in Kozara u NOB-i i socijalističkoj revoluciji (Prijedor: Nacionalni park Kozara, 1980), pp. 269–289.
- 20.
The concentration camp Jasenovac was founded near the place with the same name in August 1941, as a work camp and a camp for execution, mainly of the Serbian Orthodox population, then Jews and Romanies' population due to race laws of discrimination against these populations. Many people who opposed the Ustaša regime, Communists and antifascists, were killed there. It was open until April 1945, when the last male detainees escaped. It was the biggest Ustaša camp both in land area and in the number of victims who had died there. This is why it became a symbol of the Ustaša regime. Until the summer of 1944, it was a camp for men only, while women who were to be transported to a camp at that time were executed or transported to the camp Stara Gradiška. By the end of 1941, the penitentiary in Stara Gradiška, near Jasenovac, was used by the Ustaša authorities as a penitentiary and as a concentration camp. The first groups of detainees, mainly Serbs and Jews, were brought in May 1941 from Slavonski Brod and Bosanska Gradiška and Nova Gradiška. By the Law on the Suppression of the Penitentiary and the Institute for Hard Labour in Stara Gradiška, as of 19 February 1942, the former penitentiary was converted into a multi-purpose concentration camp. The main difference, when compared to the camp in Jasenovac, was that in this camp, there were many anti-fascists, Communists and party members, members and co-workers of the National Liberation Movement from all parts of Croatia and Bosnia, and Herzegovina, women (Croatian women, Jewish women. and Serbian women), and from June, 1942, children as well, mostly of Serbian nationality. The camp ceased to exist in April 1945. See Nataša Mataušić, Jasenovac 1941–1945. Logor smrti i radni logor (Zagreb: Spomen područje Jasenovac, 2003).
- 21.
According to the report of Mihajlo Komunicki, an employee of the Ministry of Associations (social care), on 25 July 1942, in the Ustaša collection camps Mlaka, Jablanac, Novska, Prijedor, and Uštica, there were 23,858 women with children, with a note, “that this overview is not half so correct.” Hrvatski državni arhiv (HAD), AFŽ-log.-23/32.
- 22.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 72.
- 23.
Ibid., p. 74.
- 24.
Diana calls this camp the “Temporary women’s camp”. She came across it while going through the camp Jasenovac (Camp III), and she was given an approval by Jozo Matijević, who was the camp commander. Vehicles between Jasenovac and villages Mlaka i Jablanac (where camp farms were located) used the road by the river Sava, which passed through Camp III. To pass through the camp, it was necessary to have a special permit given by the camp commander (see Annex 36 of the Diary, p. 208). When leaving the camp, the first visible village was Košutarica, after that, Mlaka, then Jablanac (all three by the Sava River). That it was not Mlaka in question, confirms the description that says that a vehicle and people she came with to the camp “were in a great hurry to get back to Mlaka” because “the commander promised them that they could go back to their village” (Ibid., p. 90). She writes that she went to Mlaka three times. The fact that it was the village Košutarica is confirmed in the Annex 39 of the Diary: “Transportation of children who arrived to Sisak on August 6, 1942, from the camps in Mlaka and Kostarica…”(Košutarica, author’s note, Ibid., p. 211).
- 25.
Anti-fascist Women’s Front (AWF), a political organization of women within the anti-fascist movement, established on 6 December 1942, in Bosanski Petrovac, in order to organize and conscript women in helping the units of the National Liberation army and the new Partisan authorities, but also to participate in commando attacks. The committees of the AWF were also involved in collecting food and clothes for the fighters, taking care of children and the wounded fighters. After the war, they were focused on restoration and the reconstruction of the country, and the improvement of women’s position in society. From 1953, it became a conference for women’s social activities.
- 26.
“Except for the members of my family, main co-workers in this work were Đuro Vukosavljević, the architect Dr. Marko Vidaković, the engineer Vasilić, the teacher Stana Radosavljević, Ljuba Becić, Vera Černe, the nurse Dragica Habazin, the medical student Verenka Kogoj, Mirjana Lacković, Dr. Branko Kesić, the representative of the illegal Slovenian Red Cross Colner, the lieutenant-colonel Nikola Gajić, Olga Pokrajac, Dr. Desanka Ristović-Štampar, Dr. Janko Pajaš, who made it possible for me to visit Lobor grad…, then Gajo Omčikus who along with Dr. Mira Meleda and Anto Bojanić from autumn 1942 ran a parallel separate action. From January, 1944, Dr. Marko Vidaković did not cooperate with my action any more…” Diana Budisavljević: “Prikaz rada “Akcije Diane Budisavljević” during the occupation period from October, 1941, to June, 1945”, p. 1.
- 27.
Dr. Juraj Zrinščak from the city hospital was arrested and released, Jana Koch was arrested and abused by the police.
- 28.
In Zagreb: The Institute for the Upbringing of Deaf and Mute Children, Institute of St. Jeronim, the so-called Jeronimus’s Hall, the city hospital for infectious diseases under the jurisdiction of ISC, the home for mothers and children in Josipovac.
- 29.
Tatjana (Josipa) Marinić (Slavonska Požega, 1897—Zagreb, 1966), a teacher, a social worker, and a member of the Workers Party of Yugoslavia (Communists) since 1919. In the period before World War II she worked on the tasks given by the Party, working with women and factory activists. During the period of the ISC she was a headmistress of the School for Educators in Rude. At the initiative of Kamilo Bresler, in the summer of 1942, together with her students, she went to Jastrebarsko and helped organize accommodation and care for children. In 1943, she joined the Partisans. From the beginning of 1944, she worked in the social political section of the National Anti-fascist Council of the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) on providing care for partisan children in liberated areas, and organizing children’s homes. Immediately after liberation, she became head of the Section for Protection and Care with the Ministry of Social Politics. From 1952, she taught social methodology at the professional school for social workers in Zagreb. Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi, (Zagreb: Glavni odbor ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), p. 474; Melita Richer-Malabotta, “Život i vrijeme Tatjane Marinić one of the founders of social work studies in Croatia” in Ljetopis socijalnog rada, vol. 13, no. 1 (2006), pp. 143–158.
- 30.
State “Reception Centre for Children” in Sisak, started working on 3 August 1942, when the first children from Mlaka arrived. The children were accommodated at several different locations in the town. Other than children from the Ustaša camps, there were children taken from their mothers from the Ustaša-German collection camp that was situated in Sisak as well. Women were sent to hard labour in Germany, and their children were left “to be taken care of “by the Croatian state. At the end of September 1942, in the Reception Centerthere were 4720 children. Very poor health, hygiene, and accommodation conditions, and lack of care caused a high mortality rate for the children. The Centre closed in 1943.
- 31.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 99.
- 32.
That is how, according to a decision of the municipality administration in Sunja in the period from 5–15 September 1942, 50 children were returned to their mothers (HDA, AFŽ-log 23/22, 14 i 15). Constant care was provided for all colonized children. They received clothes, shoes, and necessary medications from their carers (HDA, ZKRZ, GUZ, kut. 7, no. 1338/45). Families who were in a poor financial state were getting 500 kuna of help per child monthly (HDA, AFŽ-log. 23/2).
- 33.
Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi (Zagreb: Glavni odbor saveza ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), p. 377. Caritas of the Zagreb Archdiocese was founded by Archbishop Antun Bauer in 1931 as a charity organization with the aim of taking care of people, strengthening and spreading the spirit of good faith and love to loved ones. During World War II, the main supervisor of Caritas, whose manager was Stjepan Dumić, was the Zagreb Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac.
- 34.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 99.
- 35.
Ibid., p. 114.
- 36.
Ibid., p. 117, 120–121.
- 37.
Ibid., p. 159. When the war finished, Dr. Vidaković made a statement on the activities of the charity organization, which he called “Internal Yugoslavian front”, and which allegedly was active “within the Zagreb Archdiocese Caritas and with the moral and financial support of the Archbishop Stepinac”. Diana’s reaction to this statement was sharp and she made “corrections” to all the incorrect parts of the statement, among others wrongfully claiming success regarding her “Action” (HDA, R.O., manuscript legacy) Budisavljević.
- 38.
In Marina Ajduković’s opinion, her work on organizing and keeping the files on children means that “in the full meaning of that word, she was a pioneer of all important aspects related to the Convention on children’s rights when it comes to children in war, which was brought many years later.” Marina Ajduković, “The Activities of Diana Budisavljević: Working with children who suffered in the Second World War,” in Ljetopis socijalnog rada, vol. 13, no. 1 (2006), pp. 101–114.
- 39.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 71.
- 40.
“Prikaz rada “Akcije Dine Budisavljević” during the period of occupation from October 1941, to June 1945” concisely outlines the activities of the “Action” by describing its most important components. From “initiating the action of contribution for exiled Serbian families in concentration camps”, through rescuing the Kozara children and work on the files (from autumn 1942 when “it was no longer possible to pull the children out of the camps”) to sending food, clothes, and medicine to the camps, children’s homes, even through secret channels to Kordun. In the annex to the Report there is a list of all purchased items and financial contributions spent on these, and the list of things sent to Lobor grad and Gornja Rijeka. The transcript of the document is with Silvija Szabo, p. 2.
- 41.
Ibid.
- 42.
Solving “the question of Jews” from April 1941 to August 1942, was left to the ISC authorities to deal with. Out of 39,000 Jews living in the area of ISC around 24,000 were killed in the Ustaša camps and places of execution. SS troops with the help of Ustaša in the summer of 1942 and in the spring of 1943 transported about 7000 Jews to various Nazi camps, mostly to Auschwitz. Only 8000–9000 Jews survived out of all of them, mostly in the areas under Italian jurisdiction and where the Partisan units were located.
- 43.
Spomen knjiga prve obljetnice NDH (Zagreb: 1942.), p. 84.
- 44.
The Decree-law banning the Cyrillic alphabet (Zakonska odredba o zabrani ćirilice), dating from 25 April 1942, which prohibited the use of the Cyrillic alphabet “in public and private life” throughout the ICS. The Decree-law on the transition from one religion to another (Zakonska odredba o prelazu s jedne vjere na drugu), dating from 3 May 1942, as a legal document in which all previous legislation on how to make transition from one religion to another was abolished. District and city authorities became responsible for the approval of transitions. This decree-law made the transition of the Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism a part of the official state policy, and was a direct interference of the state in the affairs under the authority of the Catholic Church. An Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the ISC from 10 May 1941, stated that all Serbians and Serbs who moved to the ICS after 1 January 1900, should be dismissed from public services; on 7 June, the Order on Obligatory Registration of Serbians to municipal and city administrations was issued. It referred to those “Serbians” “who moved to the area of the Independent State of Croatia after 1 January 1900, as well as their descendants, “regardless of their social status”. Those who do not answer the summons within ten days from the date of the Order’s publication “will be considered prisoners of war, and will be taken to a prisoner’s camp.”
See: (Zakoni i zakonske odredbe proglašene od 11. travnja do 26. svibnja 1941.) Knjiga I (vols. 1–10), Tisak i naklada knjižare St. Kugli, Zagreb, (without marking the year), Zakoni zakonske odredbe i naredbe proglašene od 27. svibnja do 30. lipnja 1941. Knjiga II. (Svezak 11–20.) Tisak i naklada knjižare St. Kugli, Zagreb (without marking the year).
- 45.
“We were running out of everything. Even soap: at the beginning of May, in the same year” (1945, author’s note) “it was published: Soap for infants up to one year old 200 grams a month, children from one to two years old 100 grams for two months and is sold for coupons.” Slava Ogrizović, Zagreb se bori (Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 1977), p. 17.
- 46.
Spomen knjiga prve obljetnice Nezavisne Države Hrvatske (Zagreb: 1942), p. 231.
- 47.
Ivo Goldstein, Zagreb 1941–1945 (Zagreb: Novi Liber, 2011), p. 106. HDA, fond 223, MUP NDH, kut. 25.
- 48.
“Nova Hrvatska”, No. 132 (9 June 1942).
- 49.
Državni arhiv Zagreb (DAZ), fond 24. Gradska administracija Zagreb (1941–1945).
- 50.
DAZ, Kotarska oblast Zagreb, sig. 4. At the beginning of August, these measures were more strict, and the curfew started at 9 p.m.
- 51.
Nataša Mataušić, Spomen park Dotršćina at http://www.dotrscina.hr/
- 52.
This former Austrian officer and general in Wermacht, until 1 November 1942, had the title of “a German general in Zagreb”, and from then “authorized general in Zagreb”. Davor Kovačić, Redarstveno—obavještajni sustav Nezavisne Države Hrvatske od 1941. do 1945. godine (Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2009), p. 22.
- 53.
Ibid., p. 23. The German Secret State Police was founded in April 1933, when Hitler came to power from a section of the political police in the Weimar Republic, with a task to fight against all opponents of the Nazi regime. He had no legal restrictions in his work. It was the Gestapo and SS (Schultz Staffel = Protection units or squads) that were running the concentration camps in the whole area of the Third Reich.
- 54.
Ibid., p. 34. Head of OVRE, equivalent of the German Gestapo, he was a police envoy of the Embassy in Zagreb Ciro Verdiani, and in SIM the general Mario Roatta (part time).
- 55.
Spomen knjiga prve obljetnice NDH, (Zagreb: 1942), p. 336.
- 56.
Ibid.
- 57.
Narodne novine No. 49, (1941).
- 58.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 92.
- 59.
Ibid. 32.
- 60.
Eugen Dido Kvaternik, son of a miltary leader Slavko Kvaternik and Olga Kvaternik, (nee Frank) in Zagreb in 1910, was a close associate of Ante Pavelić. From May 1934, he was an aide in the administrative headquarters of the Ustaša movement in Italy. He was an organizer of the assassination of King Aleksandar I Karađorđević. In February 1937, he was appointed a camp commander in Lipari. He came to Zagreb on 15 April 1941, when he was appointed a commissioner for public order and safety, and on 18 April of the same year he became a chief of the Headquarters for Public Order and Safety in ISC. After establishing the Ustaša Surveillance Agency on 23 August 1941, he was appointed the Ustaša surveillance commander. In a very short period of time he organized the police force, which terrorized people in IS, which became a symbol of the Ustaša terror. He was working on cooperation with Chetniks against Partisans (Communists) who, in his opinion, were the greatest enemy of the Croatian country. He was dismissed of all his duties in October 1942. At the end of February 1943, he left with his family to Slovakia, then to Austria and Italy, and in June 1947, he moved to Argentina and stayed there permanently. He died in a car accident in March 1962. Tko je tko u NDH (Zagreb: Minerva, 1997), pp. 223–225.
- 61.
Davor Kovačić, Redarstveno-obavještajni sustav u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj od 1941. do 1945. godine (Zagreb:Hrvatski institute za povijest, 2009), p. 73.
- 62.
Ibid., p. 75.
- 63.
Wermacht Captain Albert von Kotzian. Hecker (unidentified name), chief transport organizer for Germany. Diana met him for the first time at the West (South Railway Station then) on 8 June 1942, while waiting for the late night transportation of women with children.
- 64.
Jana Koch, “Spašena su mnogobrojna naša djeca,” in Zbornik sjećanja, Zagreb 1941–1945, Knjiga 3, (Zagreb: Gradska konferencija SSRNH, Institut za historiju radničkog pokreta, Školska knjiga, 1984), p. 280. Jana Koch (Zagreb, 1905; Zagreb, 1986), a writer and a social worker, a member of the Society for Women’s Education (revoked in 1941), worked in the Croatian Red Cross helping to organize the youth. In 1943, she was dismissed from the Red Cross, and in 1944, was arrested and abused. From a transport that arrived to Zagreb on 17 August 1942, she took a ten-month-old girl and named her Duška. Duška is still alive.
- 65.
Slava Ogrizović, “Kozaračka djeca”, in Zbornik sjećanja, Zagreb 1941–1945, Knjiga 3, (Zagreb: Gradska konferencija SSRNH, Institut za historiju radničkog pokreta, Školska knjiga, 1984), pp. 293–294. Slava Ogrizović (Zvornik, 1907;.Zagreb, 1976) was a writer, and before World War II, she was a member of the Association of Educated Women with university degree, a member of the Society of Croatian Women Writers, and a chairman of the Society for Women’s Education. In 1936, she married Bogdan Ogrizović. She was a member of the Croatian Communist Party and a member of the Initiative Board of the Anti-fascist Women’s Front in Croatia. In 1944, after her husband was arrested and hanged, she left Zagreb and joined the Partisans. After the war, she worked as a manager in the Ministry of Social Care, then she was a bank manager, and a secretary of the “Yugoslav book” in establishment. She published several books on the topic of the National-Liberation combat.
- 66.
Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi, (Zagreb: Glavni odbor ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), p. 370. (Travel order issued to Dragica Habazin), Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 208. (Travel order issued to Diana Budisavljević).
- 67.
Nikola Nikolić, Kozaračka djeca (Zagreb: Stvarnost, 1979), pp. 88–90.
- 68.
Aleksa Benigar, Alojzije Stepinac—hrvatski kardinal, (Zagreb: Glas Koncila, 1993), p. 562.
- 69.
Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi (Zagreb: Glavni odbor ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), p. 377.
- 70.
Documents are with Branka Brossler, the wife of Ivan Brossler. Ivan Brossler was adopted by Kamilo’s sister Danica.
- 71.
Diana Budisavljević, “Correction of the Report made by Dr. of engineering, Marko Vidaković as of May 15, 1945, about The Internal Yugoslav front (UJF), HDA, Zagreb RO Diana Budisavljević.
- 72.
In the files, there was a list of a number of children colonized by the Caritas of the Zagreb Archdiocese. There were not only children brought from the camps among them, but also brought from poor and devastated areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslim and Catholic children).
- 73.
Kamilo Bresler, Spašavanje kozaračke djece godine 1942, p. 14. According to the List of “Children from Kozara who died”, attached to the Report of Mihajlo Komunicki about visiting the camps from 9 August 1942, in Sisak 1631 out of 3165 children died, in Zagreb 716 out of 6403, and in Jaska (Jastrebarsko, author’s note) 449 out of 2997 children died; in other words, out of 12,623 children taken over from the Ustaša camps 2854 of them died. HDA, AFŽ-log.-23/32.
- 74.
DAZ, G-238.
- 75.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 20.
- 76.
Ibid., p. 54.
- 77.
Ibid., p. 55.
- 78.
Ibid., p. 75.
- 79.
Ibid., p. 95. Institute of St. Jeronimus, the-so-called Jeronim’s Hall on Tomislav Square 19 (today’s Theater of Puppets) was owned by the Caritas of the Zagreb Archdiocese and it was used as a temporary accommodation for abandoned and poor children. On 18 July 1942, some of the older children were accommodated there. But it was in a terrible state. In one corner of the hall there was straw. Children sank into that straw so deeply, that they could hardly be seen. The toilets were clogged and spilled all over the hall and mixed with the straw where children were lying. It stank: the hall, the children, and the straw. Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi, (Zagreb: Glavni odbor ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), Knjiga I, p. 372. From the statement given by Dragica Habazin to the Land Commission for the Determination of Crimes Committed by the Occupiers and their Supporters. Conditions of the accommodation improved when at the beginning of 1943, the Institute was taken over by “the Board of private benefactors” run by Zagreb industrialists and merchants (Prpić, Bizjak, Badovinac). In the summer 1944, all the children were transferred to a new children’s home in Brestovac. “to avoid moving in or confiscation, the Archbishop decided to give the existing facilities to a children’s home. He did not support the home with food or financially.” Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević, (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 159.
- 80.
Godišnjak Karitasa za 1942. godinu. Also, Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi (Zagreb: Glavni odbor ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), p. 377.
- 81.
Bilten “Karitas nadbiskupije Zagrebačke” uoči Božića 1942, pp. 6–7. According to the list of parishes with the number of colonized children, most children were adopted in Nova Gradiška 350, in Križ 220, in Kutina 225… and in Zagreb 162.
- 82.
Ibid., pp. 6–7.
- 83.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004) p. 115. “It was cold and drafty in the Greenhouse.” The same, date December 31, 1942, p. 115.
- 84.
Aleksa Benigar, Alojzije Stepinac—hrvatski kardinal (Zagreb: Glas Koncila, 1993), pp. 368–371.
- 85.
A note regarding the discussion with the pensioner Dumić, the transcript authorized with the stamp of the Land Commission for the Determination of Crimes Committed by the Occupiers and their Supporters. in Zagreb on 19 December 1945. HDA, AFŽ-log, 23/29. Dumić’s statement was used at the trial of Stepinac, although the unidentified writer of the note said in the end: “All these statements given by Dumić should be taken with reservation. According to certain information, Dumić himself sinned against our children. But he was in argument with the people from Kaptol because he had been rejected by them. This statement of his could also be an act of revenge. Nevertheless, there is for sure a lot of truth in all of it, so it should be checked by all means.”
- 86.
Ibid., p. 117.
- 87.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević, (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 148.
- 88.
Ibid., p. 94.
- 89.
Ibid., pp. 106–107.
- 90.
Ibid., According to the Annex 41 of the Diary, 213. The invoice of the Bookshop and Stationery St. Kugli from Zagreb from 24 August 1942, for the delivery of filing papers with print dim, 12/9 cm.
- 91.
Ibid., p. 126. “In the legacy of Diana Budisavljević there are 2 transcript notebooks of the files containing data for about 10,500 children. They most likely include transcripts of files given to the Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac in May 1943, so that he could keep them. According to the data on the first pages of the copies given to the Archbishop, the copies contained 318 pages. The existing transcript in these two notebooks contains 407 pages, which means that the file was rewritten after May 1943, but it is impossible to say until when, that is what part of the file submitted on 28 May 1945, was rewritten.” Silvija Szabo, Kartoteka sastavljena u okviru „Akcije Diane Budisavljević“, mail is with the author herself.
- 92.
Mario Kevo, Veze međunarodnog odbora Crvenog križa Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, Dokumenti (Zagreb-Jasenovac: Hrvatski državni arhiv, Javna ustanova Spomen područje Jasenovac, 2009), Knjiga I., p. 157.
- 93.
Diana Budisavljević: “Prikaz rada “Akcije Diane Budisavljević” during the occupation period from October 1941 to June 1945”, p. 2.
- 94.
The Ministry was established on the basis of the Decision on the National Government of Croatia in 1945, (Narodne novine –NN- 2/1945). By the Constitution of the National Republic of Croatia dated 18 January 1947, the Ministry of Social Politics changed its name to the Ministry of Social Care. The Ministry was abolished, based on the Decision of the Government Reorganization on 27 April 1951, (NN 27/1951). According to the decree on implementing the decision made by the Parliament on reorganizing the Government of the National Republic of Croatia as of 15 May 1951, the Ministry tasks were transferred to the Council for National Health and Social Politics.
- 95.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević, (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 167.
- 96.
Ibid., p. 257. Annex 78.
- 97.
Ibid., p. 169.
- 98.
Ibid., p. 166. Photo albums were documented in almost a detective-like way in unprocessed photo material in the former Museum of Revolution of the Croatian People, today’s Croatian Historical Museum in Zagreb. They were found in the attic of the social workers high school with a pile of discarded and dusty photos of children, and were donated to the museum. It was only when the handwriting on the back of the photos was analysed that it turned out that these were “the lost” albums of Diana Budisavljević. Who put them there and why is unclear.
- 99.
Slava Ogrizović, Zagreb se bori ((Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 1977), p. 153.
- 100.
Nikola Nikolić, Kozaračka djeca (Zagreb: Stvarnost, 1979), p. 85.
- 101.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević, (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 171.
- 102.
Dragoje Lukić, Bili su samo djeca, Jasenovac grobnica 1,9432 devojčica i dečaka, Knjiga 1–2, (Beograd: Muzej žrtava genocida, 2000), p. 174. The Secretariat for National Health and Social Security did the administrative work in the area of organizing the health services and prevention, public hygiene recovery, social protection of children and adults, protection of war and civilian military invalids, and the care services. His statement that these are Diana’s Files is false and arbitrary.
- 103.
Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević, (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 2004), p. 171.
- 104.
Josip Broz Tito, Sabrana dela, (Beograd: Izdavački centar “Komunist”, Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod, Zagreb: Izdavačko knjižarsko poduzeće “Naprijed”, 1984), Tom 20, pp. 235–236. “Uredba o vojnim sudovima i ustrojstvo i nadležnost vojnih sudova”.
- 105.
HDA, OZNA Hrvatske, 30/4.0.6.1., Izvještaj 4. odsjeka OZNE za Zagrebačku oblast 4. odsjeku OZNE za Hrvatsku. Members of the army of Wermacht and Croatian armed forces were probably registered in “the military records”.
- 106.
Vladimir Geiger, “Sudski procesi u Hrvatskoj 1945. godine. Smrtna presuda evangelističkom biskupu Dr. Philippu Poppu” in Časopis za suvremenu povijest, vol. 27, no. 1 (1995), pp. 157–166. Diana paid Popp “a visit as well because of his “significant influence with the Volksdeutsche’ (ethnic Germans) organizations” which was very important since the camp commander and the sentries” [in the camp Lobor grad, author’s note] “belonged to the formation of Volksdeutsche”. When Diana asked him for help “he became very reserved” but he promised her a recommendation for the audience with the Archbishop. Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević (Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv i Javna ustanova Spomen područje Jasenovac, 2003), pp. 19–20.
- 107.
According to the data of the State Commission for Religious Relations, 271 priests, seminarians, and nuns of different religious communities were convicted in the period from 1944 to 1951 in Croatia, and 236 of them belonged to the Catholic Church. HDA, fond 310. Komisija za odnose s vjerskim zajednicama Izvršnog vijeća Sabora SRH.
- 108.
Aleksije Benigar, Alojzije Stepinac—hrvatski kardinal (Zagreb: Glas Koncila, 1993), p. 582.
- 109.
The sentence was carried out immediately. HDA, Kartoteka ratnih zločinaca, no. 422.
- 110.
“O dluka o prijelazu u državno vlasništvo neprijateljske imovine, o državnoj upravi nad imovinom neprisutnih osoba i o sekvestru nad imovinom koju su okupatorske vlasti prisilno otuđile”, Službeni list Demokratske Federativne Jugoslavije, Br.. 1 (1 February 1945), p. 4. This decision defined the status of Volksdeutsche. See: Vladimir Geiger, “Folksdojčeri u Hrvatskoj 1945.” in 1945.—razdjelnica hrvatske povijesti, Zbornik (Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2006), pp. 271–289.
- 111.
Ibid., p. 275.
- 112.
According to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs FNRJ (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) as of 18 January 1946, at the time there were 10,600 Volksdeutsche, namely 3000 men, 4500 women, and 3100 children in camps on Croatian territory, and 2000 were free (700 men, 1000 women, and 300 children). A.J. Beograd, 50-35-73, Tabelarni pregled logorisanih i nelogorisanih Nemaca na teritoriji Jugoslavije.
- 113.
Vladimir Geiger, “Folksdojčeri u Hrvatskoj 1945.” in 1945—razdjelnica hrvatske povijesti, Zbornik (Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2006), pp. 271–289, 286.
- 114.
Dnevnik, 166.
- 115.
HDA, AFŽ-log 23/48.
- 116.
HDA, AFŽ-log 23/47.
- 117.
Žene Hrvatske u Narodno-oslobodilačkoj borbi, (Zagreb: Glavni odbor ženskih društava Hrvatske, 1955), p. 506.
- 118.
Ibid, p. 386.
- 119.
Djeca Hrvatske i narodno-oslobodilačka borba (Zagreb: Gradski odbor Saveza ratnih vojnih invalida—Zagreb, 1955), p. 23.
- 120.
Ćiril Petešić, Dječji dom u Jastrebarskom, Dokumenti (1939–1947) (Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnjost, 1990), p. 68.
- 121.
Marina Ajduković: “Intervju: Rad Više škole za socijalne radnike—osobna perspektiva prof. Božidara Skeleđije” in Ljetopis socijalnog rada (2006), 13, no. 1, pp. 133–141.
- 122.
Marina Ajduković, “Intervju s Ksenijom Bralić-Švarcer: Moj radni vijek socijalne radnice,” in Ljetopis socijalnog rada (2007) 14, no.1, pp. 223–224.
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Mataušić, N. (2016). Diana Budisavljević: The Silent Truth. In: Ognjenović, G., Jozelić, J. (eds) Revolutionary Totalitarianism, Pragmatic Socialism, Transition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59743-4_3
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