"[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". They were sure that this decision had more to with American domestic politics than it did with Waldheim. 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. In 1985, he launched his bid for the presidency of Austria, a largely ceremonial post that he nevertheless wanted to take from the hands of the Socialist Party, which had held it 16 years. Kurt Waldheim. Most often they would take the second choice. Childhood & Early Life. 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. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992. Theres no doubt about that. Waldheim lied about his wartime service in the Balkans, maintaining that his military career ended in 1942 after he was wounded in a battle on the Russian front. 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. When he was Austrian Consul General in Los Angeles, Klestil developed a close relationship with the so-called California mafia that [President Ronald] Reagan brought to Washington. No, at least not during the Cold War when important strategic interests were at stake. [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. "[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 the first round of voting, Waldheim lost to Salim by one vote. Kurt Josef Waldheim (German pronunciation: [kt valdham]; 21 December 1918 - 14 June 2007) was an Austrian diplomat and politician. In those days, before the taint of scandal, Waldheim was often called the dapper diplomat. Accompanied by his vivacious wife, the former Elisabeth Ritschl, he was the epitome of Old World aristocratic style, a gallant gentleman in bespoke suits who kissed womens hands, starred on the cocktail-and-banquet circuit and oozed obsequious charm. BODDE: Kurt Waldheim was President of Austria. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria from 1986 to 1992. Many years later when I was a senior member of the Policy Planning Staff, we were asked whether the U.S. should support Waldheim for a second term as Secretary General of the United Nations. 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. (Croatia and Bosnia were part of Yugoslavia at the time.). This marked the first time that a head of state had been put on an immigration watchlist. 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. The craft were also inscribed with a written message from then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter. After the electoral defeat of the Austrian Peoples Party, Waldheim was elected chairman of the Safeguards Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency. 450. 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. 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 . When I met Kurt Waldheim in Vienna in 1994, the Balkans were doubly at issue, a generation apart. Then they would give the person a travel document that was just good until he got to Austria, and put the person on a direct flight to Austria. Waldheim had risen to the pinnacle of international diplomacy and was running for president of Austria when his past caught up with him. [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". Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. The Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, awarded Waldheim the Medal of the Crown of King Zvonimir in silver with an oak branches cluster. Kurt Waldheim, who was president of Austria from 1986 to 1992, systematically lied about his wartime past. Waldheim had unsuccessfully sought election as President of Austria in 1971, but his second attempt on 8 June 1986 proved successful. New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Vienna and met with Waldheim in February; Bans aides hastened to characterize the visit as private and personal.. Report Save Follow. Kurt Waldheim, the former UN secretary general and president of Austria whose hidden complicity in Nazi war crimes was exposed late in his career, died Thursday in Vienna, Austrian media reported. Waldheim admitted that he had not been candid about his past but disclaimed all knowledge of or participation in wartime atrocities. Countries refused to deal with him, and he was disinvited from numerous ceremonial functions. He apparently gained the sympathy of the Austrian electorate and won the presidency with 54% of the vote. We were treating Austria shabbily and finally the State Department forced the Justice Department to negotiate a new arrangement. [41] Stolen Jewish art remained public property a generation after the Waldheim affair. But sure, its this kind of ex post facto thing that we got into. On this day in 1987, the Justice and State departments . They were also convinced that the U.S. was picking on Austria because it was small. During his campaign for the presidency in 1985, what became known internationally as the "Waldheim affair" began. [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. - Title based on information from slide mount and other caption information provided by the photographer. Waldheim entered the diplomatic service in 1945. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Title Year Status Character; Howard Stern on Demand: 2006-2007: TV Series: Himself: 60 Minutes: 2006: TV Series documentary: Himself - Writer (segment "Howard Stern") Known for movies. Kurt Josef Waldheim (German pronunciation: [kt valdham]; 21 December 1918 - 14 June 2007) was an Austrian diplomat and politician. The United States became the third country granted access to the file. In his 1985 autobiography, he claimed that he was discharged from further service at the front and, for the remainder of the war, finished his law degree at the University of Vienna, in addition to marrying in 1944. However, Salim was vetoed by the United States, while Waldheim was vetoed by China. Love Fred and the racier shit but I never found any of the various Kurt Waldheim Jr bits funny. That was the kind of fellow I was looking for. After losing the presidential election, Waldheim ran for Secretary-General of the United Nations in the 1971 selection. Shortly afterwards, he ran and was defeated in the 1971 Austrian presidential elections. 4 Min Read. It is not a career-enhancing move, to get thrown out of the Secretarys office and to have done so in association with the likes of Ron Lauder made it doubly unpleasant. "His very ordinariness, in fact, may be the most important thing about him. The aristocratic poseur, Waldheim, was the grandson of a Czech blacksmith . In 1994, Pope John Paul II awarded Waldheim a knighthood in the Order of Pius IX and his wife a papal honor. However, he was vetoed by China in the second round. Theres an office in the Justice Department, the Office of Special Investigations, which is dedicated to uncovering former Nazis. Kurt Josef Waldheim (Sankt Andr-Wrdern, 21 dcembre 1918 - Vienne, 14 juin 2007) . An international commission of historians has found "no proof" that Kurt Waldheim committed war crimes, according to the 200-page report it submitted to Chancellor Franz Vranitzky here Monday . Active in the Christian Social Party, he was well regarded as a devoutly Catholic family man. Still, he denied any role in war crimes. Consequently, following his graduation Waldheim volunteered for a 12-month term of enlistment in the Austrian Army, and was posted to the 1st Dragoon Regiment on his 18th birthday. Kurt Waldheim was born on 21 December 1918 in a village named Sankt Andra-Wordern, located close to Vienna, Austria to Watzlawick and his wife. Kurt Waldheim was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations for a five-year term beginning on 1 January 1972. Kurt Waldheim, avstrijski astnik, pravnik, diplomat in politik, * 21. december 1918, Sankt Andr-Wrdern, Spodnja Avstrija, 14. junij 2007, Dunaj. This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 18:08. They thought he was treated badly by the U.S. As a result of the ban Waldheim had a tainted presidency. [13] According to one post-war investigator, prisoners were routinely shot within only a few hundred metres (yards) of Waldheim's office,[14] and 35 kilometres (22mi) away at the Jasenovac concentration camp. [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. Noun 1. We wanted the information and we did not want it to fall into the hands of the Soviets. Hnt syytettiin osallisuudesta murhaan sek salaliittoon ja sieppaukseen, joiden . Israeli ambassador Yehuda Zvi Blum denied the charges, saying, "We don't believe Waldheim ever supported the Nazis and we never said he did. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, What time is it on the moon? He said that he had known about some of the things that had happened, and had been horrified, but could not see what else he could have done. 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. 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 . Waldheim had served a painful term as Austrian President, marked from beginning . Last week, former UN Secretary-General and Austrian President Kurt Waldheim died at the age of 88. Sklici in opombe Glej tudi . 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. And although the scandal around him kicked up new poisonous clouds of anti-Semitism, when he finally left public life, in disgrace, Austria also began a slow process of recognizing its sins. He added that the secretary-general condemned any form of racial discrimination and genocide. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting, an Allied war crimes commission recommended that he be tried as a war criminal. 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. UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ A secret U.N. War Crimes Commission file on Kurt Waldheim is based on Yugoslav accusations that the former U.N. secretary-general was involved in Nazi reprisals against civilians, sources said Friday. But whatever their units, they were bad guys. During his campaign to become president in 1986, it became public that . So far, the Justice Department was acting completely aboveboard. 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. report. Janks go on a date with John DeBella's wife (which Howard predicted would happen in his battle with DeBella in Philadelphia), the "Gross Video Contest" winners, Boy-Gary dressed as an ape and . China was determined to unseat him this time and lined up a strong candidate in Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. He was the elected president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. 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