Waldheim lies low as pressure mounts

Press, 21 May 1987, Page 21

Waldheim lies low as pressure mounts

SUE MASTERMAN

reports from Vienna

that pressure is mounting on the Austrian President, Kurt Waldheim, to defend/ himself against accusations linking him to Nazi repression.

Since the United States ban on Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States as a private citizen was announced, the Austrian President has repeatedly rejected accusations that he is linked to Nazi war crimes. He has not, however, taken any action to counter the claims, with the exception of the announcement that he will soon publish a “White Book,” compiled by his own staff.

Waldheim is now being pressed to take legal action in the United States. There are various schools of thought about whom he should sue. Some advise him to sue the media for damages for calling him “butcher” or “SS swine.” Others say that he should challenge the Department of Justice’s decision to put him on the watch list. Yet a third group simply want him to go to court to demand that the Department of Justice hand over the evidence on which they based their decision.

The Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, has said that he repeatedly advised Waldheim’s son, Gerald, who represented his father in the United States, to take legal action against those he asserted were libelling and slandering his father. Gerald, he said, told him that his father was too proud to take such action. After the election last June, Waldheim, who still has more than five years left in office, said he approved of Simon Wiesenthal’s suggestion to assemble a committee of international military historians to sift through the evidence and pass judgment on Waldheim’s record during Hit-

ler’s regime in Austria. That was the last that was heard of the idea, which Wiesenthal calls “a lost golden opportunity,” until now. Socialist Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and Conservative vice-chancellor and Foreign Minister Alois Mock are both in favour of the commission, although they disagree about the composition and the strength of the international factor.

So it upset the applecart when one of Austria’s leading historians and main authority on antisemitism, Dr Erika Weinzehrl, spoke out against the idea. Dr Weinzehrl, author of tomes

on Austria’s history since 1918, said that she was sceptical of the outcome of such a commission. If there were too many Austrians in it, they would be accused of simply putting up a defence for their country. If there were too many outside experts, they ran the risk of stranding in endless argument. Meanwhile, the Austrian Chancellor, Franz Vranitzky, has had a taste of what the future holds for him. During a private visit to the Netherlands early this month the young Austrian chancellor was bombarded with questions on one topic only — Waldheim. The most persistent question was: “When is Waldheim going to resign?” As far as President Waldheim himself is concerned, that moment will never come. He intends to serve his full six-year term of office, come what may, and possibly to stand again for the second term that the consti-

tution allows — if his health permits. Waldheim regards the United States decision as pure prejudice against a whole generation of Austrians who, as he cares to put it, were "only doing their duty.” That attitude has brought the first serious appeal for his resignation launched in an editorial in the respected news magazine “Profil.” “Profil” says that Waldheim’s failure to act in time against the American ban disqualified him as president. It appeals to Waldheim either to take immediate action, in the form of law suits and the commission of inquiry, or to resign. Failure to act now would imply that Waldheim nearly has something to hide. Meanwhile, Waldheim himself has retreated to the mountains of the Tirol, where he can be assured of plenty of support from among the conservative villagers. Copyright — London Observer Service.