kurt waldheim jr

Later he was Waldheims campaign manager, and he finally had to resign because he said in an interview that unless they found that Waldheim had personally strangled somebody, they did not have a case. An account published in the Los Angeles Times in 1971 described him this way: Waldheim is very much the diplomats diplomat: conservative in dress, elegant in manner and discreet to a fault.. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Kurt Josef Waldheim was born on December 21 1918 at Tulln, near Vienna. SPIRO: My job was to track down members of the former German intelligence services in Austria. Though I lived in the Austrian capital, I was spending most of my time covering the brutal fighting and ethnic displacements then racking a disintegrating Yugoslavia. [3] Watzlawick (original Czech spelling Vclavk) changed his name to "Waldheim" that year as the Habsburg monarchy collapsed and eventually rose to become superintendent of schools for the Tulln District, attaining the rank of Regierungsrat (government councillor). Waldheim's father, a Czech by ethnic origin, changed his name from Waclawik to Waldheim. That was true. Many were displaced persons at the end of the war and ended up in Austria. However, this knowledge was not used against Waldheim, because the Finns believed he would not be chosen anyway due to the United States having promised to veto him. [44], In view of the ongoing international controversy, the Austrian government decided to appoint an international committee of historians to examine Waldheim's life between 1938 and 1945. [9] Shortly thereafter he became a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi Party's original paramilitary wing. Well, there was never really any good evidence that tied Waldheim directly to atrocities. Many of them were Yugoslavs or Romanians and all of them were old. The resulting diplomatic strains between the U.S. and Austria encumbered relations for many years afterwards, as visa applicants who had traveled to the U.S. for years were abruptly denied, and Holocaust war crimes, initially shadowed by the Cold War, were suddenly brought to light. Our response to both sides was that this was a legal decision that would be made by the Justice Department based on U.S. law. Kurt's father, Walter, migrated to Austria where Christian-Social Party (CSP) activism landed him the plum-gig of school inspector. After six weeks of deadlock, Waldheim and Salim both withdrew from the race. Political career. . Omissions? But whatever their units, they were bad guys. as zadnje spremembe strani: 14:46, 24. februar 2023. 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 . Politics portal; Kurt Josef Waldheim (German: [kt valtham] (); 21 December 1918 - 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat.Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. 463. There was no comment or statement from the governors office Thursday on the death of Waldheim.). His candidacy became controversial, however, with the dissemination of wartime and postwar documents that pointed to his having been an interpreter and intelligence officer for a German army unit that engaged in brutal reprisals against Yugoslav Partisans and civilians and deported most of the Jewish population of Salonika (Thessalonki), Greece, to Nazi death camps in 1943. 5), page 188. Kurt Waldheim: distinguished diplomat who fell from grace. Only after a blue-ribbon historical commission concluded in 1988 that Waldheim knew about and failed to prevent deportations and other atrocities did the former United Nations secretary-general admit that he knew what the Nazi regime was doing. They would have the person renounce his or her U.S. citizenship. [10], Much historical interest has centred on Waldheim's role in Operation Kozara in 1942. Congress had passed the Holtzman Act, named after Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, to legalize the expulsion and prevention of suspected Nazi criminals from the U.S. thirty years after the end of WWII. Their report found no evidence of any personal involvement in those crimes. Unable to win a third term as secretary-general, Waldheim left the U.N. in 1982 and served as a visiting professor of diplomacy at Georgetown University in Washington for the next two years. There were a lot of them around. They were sure that this decision had more to with American domestic politics than it did with Waldheim. China was determined to unseat him this time and lined up a strong candidate in Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. (Later, when he was running for governor of California, Schwarzeneggers aides said he realized that the invitation and the toast had been a stupid mistake, one that -- had he known then what he knew later -- he would not have committed. The sad thing was that one of the OSI lawyers on the team was anxious to get home to his family. It was sad, because he said, Bill, youve turned my biggest success in my life to crap. He said, I got this man elected President, and you turned around and ruined him. I didnt apologize, because I didnt think I had to apologize for what we did. The son of a civil servant, Waldheim graduated from the Vienna Consular Academy in 1938 and from the University of Vienna, where he received a doctor of laws degree, in 1944. [40] Former Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky, of Jewish origin, denounced the actions of the World Jewish Congress as an "extraordinary infamy",[40] adding that Austrians would not "allow the Jews abroad to tell us who should be our President". They told us that they didnt know about these peoples past and why should they be saddled with former Romanians or Yugoslavs. On 27 April 1987, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that former UN Secretary-General and Austrian President Kurt Waldheim would not be allowed to enter the United States after it was conclusively determined that he participated in Nazi war crimes during World War II. Four years after returning from New York to Austria, Waldheim was hot on the campaign trail, all but certain of an . Posted by 4 days ago. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. The Waldheim Waltz: Directed by Ruth Beckermann. And, it was later discovered, he had served with the Abwehr, which was the German military counter-intelligence, and was probably co-responsible for war crimes. "Kurt Waldheim did not, in fact, order, incite or personally commit what is commonly called a war crime," Herzstein wrote. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Among the deeds in which he was implicated, U.S. officials said, were the transport of civilians to Nazi slave labor camps; the deportation of Jews from the Greek islands and from Banja Luka, in Serbian Bosnia, to death camps; reprisal executions of hostages; and the approval and dissemination of propaganda calling for the elimination of the Jews. This marked the first time that a head of state had been put on an immigration watchlist. Report Save Follow. . Kurt Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and statesman who served two terms as the fourth secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), from 1972 to 1981. We wanted the information and we did not want it to fall into the hands of the Soviets. Waldheim was a member of the Austrian People's Party (sterreichische Volkspartei, or VP) and served as foreign minister. Reply . Would we have done this to the German Chancellor? The ex-concentration guard would then show up on the Austrians doorstep. - Title based on information from slide mount and other caption information provided by the photographer. Despite that, I tried to the best of my ability to remain loyal to my values and to serve my homeland.. Herbert John Spiro, interviewed beginning in April 1994, served from 1945-65 as Chief of Counterintelligence at U.S. Headquarters in Vienna. The book featured many different people from different countries, the narrator made the odd choice to imitate various accents of the people quoted. Waldheim may have been able to hide his past for so long because of the web of intrigue between intelligence services in the Cold War era. He continued to maintain a few important friends, who in turn suffered for their association. Waldheims later claims that he spent the rest of World War II studying law at the University of Vienna were contradicted by the rediscovery in 1986 of documents suggesting that he had been a German army staff officer stationed in the Balkans from 1942 to 1945. More posts from the howardstern community. He was the elected president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for President in Austria in 1985, his service as an intelligence officer in the Wehrmacht . "[25], After Operation Entebbe on 7 July 1976 in which Israeli commandos freed more than 100 Israeli and Jewish passengers held captive in Entebbe Airport (Uganda's main airport) by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and German Revolutionary Cells fighters protected by forces of dictator Idi Amin, and where all the hijackers, three hostages, and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed Waldheim described the raid as a "serious violation of the national sovereignty of a United Nations member state". On the Policy Planning Staff several of the other members and I, who was supposed to know something about Austria, we all had access to all the intelligence that anybody else did. Consequently, he chose not to run for a second term in 1992. Beyond that, though, he continued to deny an active role in widespread executions and abuse and blamed his downfall on a conspiracy by American Jews. National Socialist German Students' League, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Austria's refusal to address its national role in the Holocaust, Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI), "Former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim dies at 88 Haaretz Israel News", "Kurt Waldheim: Austrian head of the UN who as president of his country was later tainted by charges of complicity in Nazi atrocities", "Wir sterreicher whlen, wen wir wollen", "Suomen ulkoministerin johto tiesi Waldheimin natsimenneisyyden jo 1971", Israeli Ugandan Relations in the Time of Idi Amin, "July 4, Day of Operation Entebbe, Israel Upgrades Uganda Airport", "It's Election Year at U.N., With Waldheim Post Open", "Waldheim is Backed by Security Council for Five Years More", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_mJLwBgrc&t=45s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXE_4nyxUg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R97kxi1InWc&t=13s, Stealing Beauty: Dispute Rages Over Austria's Looted Art, Records of the Central Intelligence Agency (RG 263), Bericht der internationalen Historikerkommission, Schlussbetrachtung, "WALDHEIM BARRED FROM ENTERING U.S. OVER ROLE IN WAR", https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-hrsp/legacy/2011/02/04/04-09-87waldheim-rpt.pdf, "Waldheim, ex-UN leader and Nazi, buried in Austria", "Kurt Waldheim dies at 88; ex-UN chief hid Nazi past", "Former Austrian president whose term was marred by wartime service buried", Trauerfeier fr Altbundesprsident Dr. Kurt Waldheim im Wiener Stephansdom, 23.06.2007, Ban Ki-moon voices sadness at death of former Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, Austria and Nazism: Owning Up to the Past (A BBC Report), The Waldheim Report: International Commission of Historians, Video of Kurt Waldheim sworn in as UN Secretary-General, GREEK JEWS CHALLENGING WALDHEIM by HENRY KAMM, Ambassador of Austria to the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kurt_Waldheim&oldid=1141564433, Permanent Representatives of Austria to the United Nations, Secretaries-General of the United Nations, Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class, Austrian military personnel of World War II, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Interpreter with the liaison staff attached to the Italian. In 1986 Waldheim ran once again as the Peoples Party candidate for president of Austria. In the years between the discovery of his scandalous past and his death, Waldheim steadfastly portrayed himself as an ordinary, unheroic citizen caught up in a maelstrom, a point Herzstein reflected upon. 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. Kurt Josef Waldheim (German: [kt valtham] (listen); 21 December 1918 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Austrian state media said Waldheim, who was hospitalized last month with a fever-causing infection, died of heart failure in Vienna. Chinas opposition aside, Waldheim had appeal for rival superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union, which viewed him as nonideological and noncontroversial. 8/13/86 Rafael Pineda, S.Berkley, Kurt Waldheim, Lesb. Daniel Radcliffe as Howard Stern in photos from the set of "Private Parts" remake. During his campaign to become president in 1986, it became public that . 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. Last week, former UN Secretary-General and Austrian President Kurt Waldheim died at the age of 88. June 15, 2007. [51] The report catalogues evidence that, the U.S. government concluded, proved that Waldheim had taken part in, among other actions: the transfer of civilian prisoners to the SS for exploitation as slave labor; the mass deportation of civiliansincluding Jews from Greek islands and the town of Banja Luka, Yugoslaviato concentration and death camps; the utilization of antisemitic propaganda; the mistreatment and execution of Allied prisoners; and reprisal executions of hostages and other civilians. [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]. It was to damage his reputation for . [48], On 27 April 1987, the United States Departments of Justice and of State announced that evidence amassed in an investigation conducted by the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) had established a prima facie case that Waldheim participated in Nazi-sponsored persecution during World War II and therefore that his entry into the United States was prohibited by federal statute. However, first and foremost, it is a film about the process of the affair. Austria was also getting something of a free pass from the Allies, who excused it from the payment of reparations and other punishments meted out to Germany. Howard Stern's first Pay-Per-View (although only on the East Coast) with various guests and, not surprisingly, an audience in their negligees and underpants. 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. A close political ally of Waldheim dismissed the commission as being full of Waldheims enemies -- Jews and Socialists -- and thus not credible. His family was with him when he succumbed to cardiovascular failure. Kurt Josef Waldheim, fdd 21 december 1918 i Sankt Andr-Wrdern, Niedersterreich, dd 14 juni 2007 i Wien, var en sterrikisk politiker och diplomat. [40] Nevertheless, he admitted that he had known about German reprisals: "Yes, I knew. Some Germans had stayed in Austria partly because they thought that the Occupation, which was not called Occupation, would be less rigorous and less de-Nazifying than it was in Germany. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. When I met Kurt Waldheim in Vienna in 1994, the Balkans were doubly at issue, a generation apart. Share. We were treating Austria shabbily and finally the State Department forced the Justice Department to negotiate a new arrangement. Reply. The Austrians, of course, were beside themselves. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992. Lauder was very close to the Jewish organizations in the U.S. and Austria but he was concerned about the damage a ban on Waldheim would do to U.S.-Austrian relations. However, there was a clause in the displaced persons legislation that stated if you lied on your application to come to the U.S., you could be deported back to the country from where you emigrated. (Croatia and Bosnia were part of Yugoslavia at the time.). But the disclosures sparked a nationalist backlash in Austria that aided Waldheim's election as president. That position earned Wiesenthal the enmity of some Jewish groups. On the other hand, some bad guys showed up. He oversaw effective and sometimes massive relief efforts in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, the Sudan-Sahel area of Africa, and Guatemala, as well as peacekeeping operations in Cyprus, the two Yemens, Angola, Guinea, and, especially, the Middle East. The World Jewish Congress and an Austrian investigative magazine produced documents detailing his membership in Nazi organizations and his military service in the Balkans. [22] His diplomatic efforts particularly in the Middle East were overshadowed by the diplomacy of then U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. His aides at the United Nations even accused the Israeli mission of spreading rumors that he supported the Nazis. Jun 14, 2007 at 3:03 pm. In the meantime, Congress passed a law, the Holtzman Act, named after a Congresswoman who introduced it. Wikipedia je trna znamka neprofitne organizacije Wikimedia Foundation Inc.; Pravilnik o zasebnosti Kurt Josef Waldheim ; 21 December 1918 - 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. But the disclosures sparked a nationalist backlash in Austria Romanians and all of them old! To his family us that they didnt know about these peoples past and why they... Weeks of deadlock, Waldheim and Salim both withdrew from the governors office Thursday on campaign. From slide mount and other caption information provided by the photographer backlash in kurt waldheim jr in 1985, his service an. 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