If we had done a little more digging, both 1946 and 1972 or whenever it was, we might have found out about him. The case that defined the legacy and memory of the longtime diplomat was built around a grainy black-and-white photograph that showed a young Waldheim -- tall, lean and uniformed -- as he fought for a Nazi army unit blamed for wartime atrocities in the Balkans. . ", Kurt Waldheim dies at 88; ex-UN chief hid Nazi past, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/world/europe/14iht-waldheim.3.6141106.html. BODDE: Kurt Waldheim was President of Austria. Sound, Fury, Brilliance & Booze: Faulkner in Post-War Japan, Protecting Greenland: The American Consulate at Godthab, 1940-42, Raymond Hare: Our Man in Cairo during WWII. [12] In 1986, Waldheim said that he had served only as an interpreter and a clerk and had no knowledge either of reprisals against local Serb civilians or of massacres in neighboring provinces of Yugoslavia. Then, in March 1986, during the campaign, Waldheim was hit with damning disclosures. But thanks to his parents' middle-class standing, he and his brother and sister suffered few of the economic deprivations that most Austrians endured during the 1920s. For if history teaches us anything, it is that the Hitlers and the Mengeles could never have accomplished their atrocious deeds by themselves. I remember one case, hed been back and forth to the United States 25 times, and all of a sudden he didnt qualify. "We lived in daily apprehension.". Political career. [10], Much historical interest has centred on Waldheim's role in Operation Kozara in 1942. Waldheim was a member of the Austrian People's Party (sterreichische Volkspartei, or VP) and served as foreign minister. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Eventually, though, he was forced to acknowledge that he continued in the military as an intelligence officer, stationed from 1942 to 1945 in Greece and Yugoslavia -- sites of some of the most horrendous massacres of the war. Waldheim had unsuccessfully sought election as President of Austria in 1971, but his second attempt on 8 June 1986 proved successful. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Waldheim, British Broadcasting Corporation - Kurt Waldheim, United Nations - Biography of Kurt Waldheim, Kurt Waldheim - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). You might remember that we took the high moral road right after the war and declared that anyone who had belonged to the Nazi Party could only work at menial jobs. [52], Additional allegations of participation in Nazi crimes, with citations to captured Nazi documents and other records, were leveled in a 1993 book by Eli Rosenbaum, the former U.S. federal prosecutor who had directed the World Jewish Congress investigation that led to the New York Times' initial exposure of Waldheim's hidden Nazi-era past in 1986. Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007) served as secretary-general of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. Following the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy, his father changed the family surname to . The United States became the third country granted access to the file. For much of his adulthood, Waldheim claimed that he was drafted into the German army after Adolf Hitler occupied Austria but sat out most of the war, attending law school in Vienna, because of a shrapnel wound he suffered on the Eastern Front in 1941. Shortly before his birth the Habsburg monarchy had collapsed, and his father, whose Czech family had been called Watzlawick . Of course, this made the Austrians very unhappy. The U.S. ban was never lifted. Declassified documents from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency show that the CIA had been aware of some details of his wartime past since 1945. No, at least not during the Cold War when important strategic interests were at stake. They would have the person renounce his or her U.S. citizenship. A biographical drama film about Kurt Josef Waldheim, former UN Secretary General and the controversy of his participation and role in the Nazi regime during WW II . Normally thats what the Austrian President does. William Bodde Jr, interviewed in October 1998, reflects on his time as a staff aide in Vienna during this controversy. It was to damage his reputation for . Along with his family, Waldheim opposed the German annexation of Austria in 1938, and while actively campaigning against it in Vienna was attacked and injured by Austrian Nazis. Waldheim affair, controversy concerning the military record of former Austrian diplomat and statesman Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007) and his knowledge about war crimes committed by Austria during World War II. Kurt Josef Waldheim was born on December 21 1918 at Tulln, near Vienna. The Justice lawyer picked up Pan Am 103 in Frankfurt and was killed by the bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland.. In early 1941, Waldheim was drafted into the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany, specifically to the Heer (Army), and posted to the Eastern Front where he served as a squad leader. Waldheims UN secretaryship beginning in 1972 was characterized as efficient and ministerial. As a gymnasium student in Klosterneuburg, he excelled at languages and was a competent violinist in the school orchestra, also enjoying swimming, boating and tennis. [40], Part of the reason for the controversy was Austria's refusal to address its national role in the Holocaust (many leading Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, had been born Austrians, and Austria became part of the Third Reich). He served as First Secretary of the Legation in Paris from 1948, and in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Vienna from 1951 to 1956. It was a complicated situation because some years earlier the United States had supported . [60] In a two-page letter, published posthumously by the Austrian Press Agency the day after he died, Waldheim admitted making "mistakes" ("but these were certainly not those of a follower let alone an accomplice of a criminal regime") and asked his critics for forgiveness.[61]. No less a figure than the late Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Nazi hunter from Vienna, refused to label Waldheim a war criminal, although he was certain Waldheim knew more than he admitted. Once I went to see him when I was in Austria for these COCOM [Coordinating Commission on Multilateral Export Controls] negotiations. Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, accused by Jewish groups of participating in Nazi war crimes, today was barred from entering the United States because of evidence that he persecuted people . "[40] He said that he had never fired a shot or even seen a partisan. Ron Lauder, a political appointee, was Ambassador to Austria at the time. All of a sudden, we had this case that involved the President of Austria. [28], In 1977, Waldheim recorded a greeting for the Voyager Golden Records, a pair of discs containing sounds and images representing the diversity of life and culture on Earth, which were launched into deep space on the Voyager spacecraft. 1. The embassy dealt with him all the time. Then Ryan or someone from OSI would leak to The New York Times that they had nabbed another Nazi and deported him to Austria. After the electoral defeat of the Austrian Peoples Party, Waldheim was elected chairman of the Safeguards Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Donald Trump Jr. claims US train network is being sabotaged as revenge for Nord Stream 2 after derailments in Ohio and Michigan . Ironically, Thomas Klestil was elected President when Waldheim completed his term of office. Waldheim was a member of the Austrian People's Party, a World War II Veteran and . At Waldheim's own request, no foreign heads of states or governments were invited to attend his funeral except Hans-Adam II, the Prince of Liechtenstein. So even if they were Romanians or Yugoslavs, if they emigrated to the U.S. from Austria they could be deported back to Austria. It was intended to prompt us to look into the causes, course and consequences of the Waldheim affair. He went through my fingers. He continued to maintain a few important friends, who in turn suffered for their association. Robert Edwin Herzstein, a historian and professor at the University of South Carolina, played a crucial role in uncovering Waldheim's Nazi past through archival research. Fischer also praised Waldheim for his efforts to solve international crises and for his contributions to world peace. He added that the secretary-general condemned any form of racial discrimination and genocide. The former Secretary General of the United Nations and Ambassador to France and Canada was initially seen as an obvious choice for the position, which is primarily a ceremonial role. As secretary general, Waldheim was often criticized - by governments in the West, East and the third world - as ineffectual and overly cautious in his attempts to find solutions to the many conflicts erupting around the globe. Posted by 5 days ago. Thu 14 Jun 2007 19.08 EDT. In 1956 he was made Ambassador to Canada, returning to the Ministry in 1960, after which he became the Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations in 1964. [West German Chancellor Helmut] Kohl used to meet with him unofficially when Kohl was on his annual summer vacation in Austria. We have many differences with him, but that isn't one of them. The decision to ban Waldheim was made by Attorney General [Edwin] Meese and Secretary Shultz went along with it. [16], Waldheim denied that he knew war crimes were taking place in Bosnia at the height of the battles between the Nazis and Tito's partisans in 1943. La yaro 1918 (MCMXVIII per Romala algarismi) esis ordinara yaro komencinta ye mardio segun Gregoriala kalendario, ed ordinara yaro komencinta ye lundio segun Juliala kalendario.Ol esis la 918ma yaro di la duesma yarmilo, la 18ma yaro di la 20ma yarcento, e la 9ma yaro di la yari 1910a.Kande 1918 komencis, Gregoriala kalendario esis 13 dii avan Juliala kalendario, qua duris uzesar en kelka loki . It was reported, for example, that he had received a special decoration in 1942 from the Ustasha, Croatias Nazi puppet regime, for valorous conduct in the brutal repression of guerrillas and civilians in Bosnia. However, China was still opposed to Waldheim and approached several Third World countries seeking challengers. It was not until Waldheim left the United Nations and then ran for president of Austria in 1986 that his wartime past became widely known. Austria refused to pay compensation to victims of Nazism, and from 1970 onwards refused to investigate Austrian citizens who were senior Nazis. The video also features Jessica Hahn in the 3-D skit "Jungle Man", "Guess Who's the Jew" with Kurt Waldheim, Jr. and KKK-guy Daniel Carver, see Capt. They argued that if Waldheim were President of Germany, the U.S. wouldnt do such a thing because you need Germany. Posted by 4 days ago. The Austrian had been a member of the Sturmabteilung, or SA, which provided military protection for the National Socialist German Workers Party, better known as . Waldheim had served a painful term as Austrian President, marked from beginning . "[18], In 1945, Waldheim surrendered to British forces in Carinthia, at which point he said he had fled his command post within Army Group E, where he was serving with General Alexander Lhr.[19]. In December, he was wounded but returned to service in 1942. A son, Gerhard, and another daughter, Christa, followed. Despite that, I tried to the best of my ability to remain loyal to my values and to serve my homeland.. The World Jewish Congress was particularly active in pushing this, and Secretary [of State George] Shultz had absolutely no sympathy for Waldheim himself. Kurt Josef Waldheim (Sankt Andr-Wrdern, 21 dcembre 1918 - Vienne, 14 juin 2007) . Many Austrians apparently viewed Waldheim's life as a parable of their own. It was odd. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. The commission did not say Waldheim personally participated in the bloodshed, and he seized on that to claim that he had essentially been exonerated. Sklici in opombe Glej tudi . I suspect that he was more concerned with the hostility that he would face in Vienna in the wake of a ban. A man named [Allan] Ryan headed the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in the Justice Department that went after the Nazis. Four years after returning from New York to Austria, Waldheim was hot on the campaign trail, all but certain of an . Waldheim's functions within the staff of German Army's Group E from 1942 until 1945, as determined by the International Commission of Historians,[11] were: By 1943, Waldheim was serving in the capacity of an aide-de-camp in Army Group E which was headed by General Alexander Lhr, who would be executed as a war criminal in 1947. Because of his known anti-Nazi sympathies, Walter Waldheim was twice arrested by the Gestapo and lost his job. Kurt Valdhajm (nem. 450. His father, Walter, the son of an impoverished blacksmith, became the local school superintendent and married a daughter of the mayor. (Waldheim, second from left, with Italian General Ercole Roncaglia, Col. Hans Herbert Macholz, and SS-GruppenfhrerArtur Phleps at Podgorica airfield, May 1943.). The "Waldheim Affair" is the term conventionally applied to the controversy surrounding the disclosure of the previously unknown past of Kurt Waldheim, former secretary general of the United Nations, which arose during his campaign for the Austrian presidency in 1986.The affair not only focused international attention on Waldheim personally, but also raised broader questions . Its report in 1988 concluded that he repeatedly went along with [the Nazis] unlawful acts, thereby facilitated their execution and did nothing to prevent them. After a distinguished diplomatic career, culminating in 10 years as UN Secretary General, Dr Kurt Waldheim found himself embroiled in bitter controversy over his war record more than 40 years after the end of the World War II. VIENNA, Austria - Kurt Waldheim, whose legacy as U.N. secretary-general was overshadowed by revelations that he belonged to a German army unit that . [52:55, April] Kurt Waldheim Jr. and "Guess Who's The Jew," Washington DC pro-choice rally, Reporter Jim Jensen parody. [6] In the autumn of 1937, now an army reservist, Waldheim entered the prestigious Consular Academy in Vienna on a scholarship, where he began his studies in law and diplomacy. So decisions were made then in the light of the necessities at the time and were perfectly legitimate, I think. He was 88. Despite resistance from new member China, Waldheim was elected secretary-general of the U.N. and assumed office in January 1972. [15] Decades later, during the lobbying for his election as U.N. Secretary General, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, who had led the Yugoslav Partisans during the war, awarded Waldheim one of the highest Yugoslav orders, not knowing the details of his prior military service. The controversy surrounding my person in and outside Austria often hurt me, he said. There was no comment or statement from the governors office Thursday on the death of Waldheim.). The book featured many different people from different countries, the narrator made the odd choice to imitate various accents of the people quoted. then Kurt Waldheim tried to seduce me when I was just 14.' Small . They were also convinced that the U.S. was picking on Austria because it was small. This argument may have merit but it did not change the U.S. position. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Podgorica, Yugoslavia. "@Anti_PC_Culture @Cl3v3rGurl @CissyScum You're where comedic timing (and physical fitness) go to die." Secretary-general of the United Nations (1972-81). The Pope received him, and that got people unhappy here. China was determined to unseat him this time and lined up a strong candidate in Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. The law was meant to keep out former Nazis, especially people who lied about their past in obtaining a visa and especially anybody who was connected with the concentration camps and other atrocities. 8/13/86 Rafael Pineda, S.Berkley, Kurt Waldheim, Lesb. In the meantime, Congress passed a law, the Holtzman Act, named after a Congresswoman who introduced it. They told us that they didnt know about these peoples past and why should they be saddled with former Romanians or Yugoslavs. The book also alleged that the Soviet Union was aware of Waldheim's alleged involvement in Nazi crimes and that, after vetoing other candidates in order to get Waldheim installed as U.N. 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