Word: waldheim
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...more than ever." That battle cry helped Kurt Waldheim become President of Austria two years ago, despite an international uproar over his service with German army units that committed atrocities during World War II. But the slogan echoed with bitter irony last week as calls for his resignation mounted in the wake of a report by a panel of historians who concluded that Waldheim, 69, was well aware of war crimes but did nothing to stop them and then concealed his knowledge...
...many schoolrooms across Austria, portraits of the President vanished from the walls. Civil servants in Vienna hung a 100-ft.-long banner from a government office building demanding that Waldheim step down. In the capital's St. Stephen's Square, some 3,500 demonstrators gathered around a 10-ft.-high wooden horse wearing a storm trooper's cap, which has become an anti-Waldheim symbol...
...President responded with a televised speech attacking the six-member historians' panel, though he had urged its appointment last year. Waldheim said he would "not retreat in the face of slanders, hateful demonstrations and wholesale condemnations." While polls taken for the daily Die Presse after the speech found that 46% still opposed Waldheim's resignation, only 34% of respondents said they would now vote for him. In 1986 he won 54% of the vote...
...first time, both parties in Austria's shaky coalition government seemed to harbor serious doubts about the President. Fritz Rucker, vice chairman of the pro-Waldheim People's Party in Salzburg, quit to protest what he called "false slavish loyalty" toward Waldheim. Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, who heads the Socialists, threatened to resign unless the furor over Waldheim died down...
Agreeing to a ten- month timetable for withdrawal of his troops, Gorbachev says the next round of Geneva talks may be the last. The tanks could begin clanking homeward by May 15. -- In Austria, Waldheim resists new pressure to step down. -- A former top aide to Panamanian Strongman Noriega tells of corruption on a grand scale. -- Growing militance among West Bank settlers...