Saving Diana

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

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Michael Stone on Princess Diana's life-saving mission in Angola - full exclusive story

Diana had a special touch. She was tactile and affectionate, and that was very important because it was a clear connection to those people who were suffering, as fellow human beings. Ninety per cent of all victims of warfare are civilians. They just want to get on with their lives. Diana understood all of this. Meghan Markle's signet ring revealed - and here's where you can buy it. But the remark upset her. I sensed she was about to break down so I stopped further questions from journalists and whisked her away in the car.

To hell with what they think.

During those four unforgettable days, Michael experienced both the public and the private Diana. She could get on with anybody," he said. Sometimes I had to pull myself up a bit, such as when I tried to tell her a joke before realising it was probably inappropriate. I think it was more than that.

Compassion is a feeling of sorrow for another with a desire to help. She moved beyond this towards empathy, an ability to understand, perhaps from her own suffering, that of another. There was no one like her who did what she did, and I don't believe there will ever be a person like her again. She was a true humanitarian. After Zagreb was liberated by the Yugoslav partisans in May , security officers visited the Budisavljevic residence.

They took the family car, as well as files with photos and information on thousands of children who had been saved. While Diana is credited by historians with helping rescue 7, children from various camps, she had kept records of about 12, kids who had been accommodated in convents or private homes throughout Croatia. Most of the children were from the region around the Bosnian mountain of Kozara -- an area that had been "cleansed" in a joint operation by Nazi German and Ustase forces. The child-rescue operation was not ignored after the war -- it was, in fact, hailed as a triumph of the liberating partisan forces.

But Diana Budisavljevic, who had risked her life and those of her family members up to that point, was erased from the narrative, as were the names of most of her associates and helpers. She was not arrested or interrogated, but it fell to the victors to write the history of the children's delivery from captivity. The Yugoslav communist authorities subsequently managed to locate many of the children's parents, and those who had been orphaned were left in the care of foster families in Zagreb.

Diana received around 4, inquiries from parents looking for their children after the war, but deprived of her archive she was unable to help. In , when the permanent exhibit at the location of the Jasenovac camp was being prepared, Matausic discovered a pile of children's photographs and some albums in the archive that had not been looked at in years. I set to work immediately.

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There were four albums with children's photos, all dated. The pictures were haunting -- images of children in distress in Zagreb hospitals or in the camp at Sisak," Matausic says.

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She had met her husband Julije in Innsbruck, where he was studying medicine, and they married in Later, she used her connections in Zagreb high society to obtain permission for the removal of Serbian children from the Ustase camps. She was left undaunted even by the threats from the camp commander Luburic.

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After the war she never spoke in public about the operation -- her granddaughter discovered her journal and the photo albums among her things by accident. Diana moved back to Innsbruck with her husband in , where she died six years later. I sensed she was about to break down so I stopped further questions from journalists and whisked her away in the car.

To hell with what they think.

During those four unforgettable days, Michael experienced both the public and the private Diana. She could get on with anybody," he said.

Michael gave an interview on the Princess' 20th death anniversary

Sometimes I had to pull myself up a bit, such as when I tried to tell her a joke before realising it was probably inappropriate. I think it was more than that. Compassion is a feeling of sorrow for another with a desire to help. She moved beyond this towards empathy, an ability to understand, perhaps from her own suffering, that of another. There was no one like her who did what she did, and I don't believe there will ever be a person like her again.

She was a true humanitarian. However, there were tears behind these smiles. Along with thousands of victims like her, year-old Sandra Tigica had lost a leg after stepping on a landmine. Clearly moved by Sandra's plight, the Princess said: True to her word, she helped bring that about, galvanising public opinion against landmines. Later that year the United Nations introduced its Mine Ban Treaty, which to date has been signed by countries and has vastly reduced the numbers of casualties.

Michael, who also worked with Mother Teresa in war-torn zones, spoke of what it meant to work with the Princess. Taking the most famous person in the world and putting her next to one of the world's most horrific problems was unique.

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