Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Waldheim | |
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9th President of Austria | |
In office 8 July 1986 – 8 July 1992 | |
Chancellor | Franz Vranitzky |
Preceded by | Rudolf Kirchschläger |
Succeeded by | Thomas Klestil |
4th Secretary-General of the United Nations | |
In office January 1, 1972 – January 1, 1982 | |
Preceded by | U Thant |
Succeeded by | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar |
Personal details | |
Born | Sankt Andrä-Wördern near Vienna, Austria | December 21, 1918
Died | June 14, 2007 Vienna, Austria | (aged 88)
Nationality | Austrian |
Political party | Austrian People's Party |
Spouse(s) | Elisabeth Waldheim |
Alma mater | University of Vienna |
Kurt Josef Waldheim (21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian diplomat and conservative politician. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992.
Political career
[change | change source]Waldheim published an autobiography. During his campaign to become president in 1986, it became public that some statements in that biography were not true. These were about his past. Waldheim was an officer for Germany in the Second World War. He became an oberleutnant in the Wehrmacht. Waldheim participated in Operation Kozara in 1942.[1] According to one post-war investigator, prisoners were often shot within only a few hundred meters of Waldheim's office[2] and 35 kilometres (22 mi) away at the Jasenovac concentration camp. Waldheim later said, "he did not know about the murder of civilians there".[2]
A commission of several historians looked at the issue. They decided Waldheim had behaved as he should have done. They said he had not committed any war crimes. However, in his role of an officer, he must have known about the deportation of about 40.000 Jews into concentration camps. These transports were against the law. Thus, he was not allowed to travel to the United States any more.
In 1990, he had a success: Saddam Hussein held several foreigners as hostages at the start of the Second Gulf War. When Waldheim heard this, he went to Baghdad. Through talks he got Hussein to release the Austrian and the Swiss hostages. Both countries are neutral.
Death
[change | change source]On June 14, 2007, Waldheim died of heart failure.[3]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Kandell, Jonathan (15 June 2007). "Kurt Waldheim". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
Waldheim took part in, and was decorated for, Operation Kozara, a large-scale antipartisan operation involving mass reprisals – at the rate of 100 executions for every German killed – and mass deportations of Serb women and children to concentration camps.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Casey, Dennis (1 May 2005). "Kurt Waldheim: man of mystery". Spokesman Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011.
- ↑ Reports: Ex-UN Chief Waldheim Dead at 88
- United Nations Secretaries-General
- 1918 births
- 2007 deaths
- Austrian people of World War II
- Austrian autobiographers
- Government ministers of Austria
- Military personnel of World War II
- Writers from Vienna
- Politicians from Vienna
- Presidents of Austria
- Recipients of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria