Documents Tie Waldheim to Massacres, Group Says

Documents in the National Archives link former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim with reprisal massacres against Yugoslav villages in 1944, the World Jewish Congress charged today.

The documents, signed with Waldheim’s name, are reports pinpointing activities by “bandits,” or partisans, on the Stip-Kocane road. Within 48 hours, three villages--Krupiste, Gorni Balvan and Dolnyi Bolvan--were burned to the ground, and 114 people were killed.

Elan Steinberg, World Jewish Congress executive vice president, said at a news conference that Waldheim had to know of orders mandating reprisals wherever partisan activities were found.

Another document released by the group, also signed with Waldheim’s name, reported that in another instance, 739 partisans were killed and 94 prisoners taken--though only 63 weapons were confiscated.

“Most if not all of the remainder--more than 700 people--were unarmed civilians,” and Waldheim must have known that, said Eli Rosenbaum, the congress’s general counsel.

Waldheim, a candidate for president of Austria, repeatedly has denied any involvement in war crimes and says recent charges are part of a political smear campaign against him.

However, he has admitted that he did not reveal the length of his service to the Germans.

The World Jewish Congress has been investigating Waldheim’s war record.

Congress officials said they will continue to release information about Waldheim as it is found, regardless of whether he wins or loses the election. They again called on Waldheim to explain why he lied.

And they called upon Austria, Yugoslavia or Greece to conduct official investigations into Waldheim’s background.

“In principle, he could and should be tried in Austria,” Steinberg said. “Do I think that will happen? No.”

The New York Times reported that documents listing more than 36,000 war criminal suspects and witnesses, whose files have been kept secret in U.N. archives since 1948, have been found inadvertently on an open shelf of a military records center in Maryland.

Waldheim appears on one list. He was described as wanted for murder and taking hostages, the paper said.

The names and files were compiled by the 17-nation War Crimes Commission that sat in London from 1943 to 1948.

The United Nations has refused to give general access to the commission files, but turns over those for which it receives specific requests from governments. With a master list available, requests for the file of every individual could be made.