Word: waldheim
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...baroque splendor of his 18th century offices, Kurt Waldheim entertains few visitors. The Austrian President spends his days huddling with aides -- dubbed the "bunker boys" by sharp-tongued colleagues -- or performing ceremonial functions. He lingers at receptions, hoping that people will talk to him and, more important, be seen talking to him. Asked whether Waldheim would be welcome at the royal court in Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson diplomatically replied, "The problem does not arise. His Majesty's program is booked solid for years, and your question is therefore purely academic...
...Waldheim's plight, though, is a painfully public matter. Since he was elected President 18 months ago, he has become a pariah abroad and an embarrassment to some Austrians at home. The controversy over Waldheim's World War II record continues to dominate headlines and the Viennese cocktail circuit. Even many Austrians now call for his resignation. Though he drew 54% of the vote, a poll taken in December for the monthly magazine Wiener found that 50% of those surveyed wanted him to quit. The pressure for Waldheim to leave is expected to increase next month, when an international panel...
...Waldheim's defenders launched a vigorous campaign this month to clear his name finally. Their heaviest ammunition was a 299-page "white book" prepared on Waldheim's behalf by Foreign Ministry officials. Titled Kurt Waldheim's Wartime Years: A Documentation, the work asserts that all charges against him have been proved false. It repeats claims that Waldheim had no involvement in atrocities committed by German army units to which he was assigned between 1942 and 1944. The troops carried out brutal reprisals against Yugoslav resistance fighters and deported Greek Jews to Nazi death camps. The book further asserts that Waldheim...
Though the files have always been open to designated officials of member countries, few requests were made, and information gleaned from the records could not be made public. Then, in 1986, just as the public furor was erupting over the Nazi past of former U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, who is now the President of Austria, a U.S. military archivist in Washington stumbled upon a master list of the names of all those for whom the U.N. possesses war- crime dossiers. As it turned out, Waldheim's name was on the list. Israel and American Jewish organizations accused...
...building in New York City. Next week Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar will decide whether researchers and historians will be given access to the confidential records, which were "discovered" by Israeli officials last year. The documents sparked the controversy over the alleged participation in Nazi war crimes of Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. Secretary-General who is now President of Austria. Opponents of increased access argue that the archives contain unsubstantiated charges that could harm innocent people. Counters an Israeli diplomat at the U.N.: "Secrecy will hurt, not help, those who might be innocent...