Waldheim Wins Vote in Austria : Elected President Amid Charges of Role in War Crimes

Former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, at the center of an international controversy over his role with the German army in World War II, was elected president of Austria on Sunday after the bitterest campaign in the nation’s post-World War II history.

Waldheim, 67, accused of lying about his activities with the Nazi army, known as the Wehrmacht, won a six-year term in the largely ceremonial post with 53.9% of the ballots cast, Interior Minister Karl Blecha announced. Waldheim, an independent who was supported by the conservative People’s Party, defeated the Socialist Party candidate, Kurt Steyrer, 66, who drew 46.1%.

Austria has 5.4 million eligible voters in a population of 7.5 million.

Inauguration July 8

In balloting on May 4, Waldheim had failed to gain the necessary majority against three opponents, including Steyrer, which led to Sunday’s runoff. Waldheim will be inaugurated on July 8, replacing popular incumbent Rudolf Kirchschlaeger.

It was the first time since the war that the Socialists, beset by a series of domestic scandals that had led to voter disillusionment, have lost the presidency.

Appearing at a news conference after the results were announced, Waldheim, wearing a dark blue suit with a rose in the lapel, said he was surprised at the size of his victory.

He called for a “moral renewal” in the country and said that he would be dedicated to the “principles of achievement” in Austria.

As for the charges that he may have been guilty of war crimes, Waldheim said that his critics were “not governments” but “private institutions and foreign media.”

He brushed off allegations that he was guilty of any crimes during World War II.

‘Unrepentant Nazi’

In New York, Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, which had pressed the allegations of Waldheim’s ties to war crimes, criticized the outcome of the election.

“The Waldheim case is active and open around the world where there are murderers and torturers as leaders, (and) there is now a president who is an unrepentant Nazi,” Steinberg said.

The American Jewish Committee called the Waldheim election “deeply disturbing.”

Its president, Theodore Ellenoff, said: “That a majority of the Austrian electorate could choose to ignore both Dr. Waldheim’s wartime involvement in Nazi operations and his subsequent unbridled deceit about this period represents a truly sad day in Austrian history.”

At a Salute to Israel Parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue, Mayor Edward I. Koch, declaring, “I am a Zionist,” said Waldheim’s election “will be to Austria’s eternal shame.”

Austria, Jews Losers

Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, an Austrian Jew and a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, said that both Austria and the country’s Jewish inhabitants are losers in the election.

Declaring that he voted for neither candidate, Wiesenthal said: “For me the losers are Austria’s image and its Jewish community. The Jews became the object of this campaign; we have had the biggest wave of anti-Semitism in 40 years.”

The news agency Tass, in initial Soviet comment on the election results, charged that the campaign against Waldheim was mounted by the U.S. government and “Zionist circles’ to discredit the United Nations.

“It is noteworthy that the U.S. Administration and Zionist circles resorted to flagrant interference in the preelection struggle and launched a personal campaign against Waldheim in an attempt to influence the outcome of the presidential election,” Tass said.

Tass praised Waldheim’s role as U.N. secretary general, saying that the campaign was “not connected with his past.”

Can’t Be Barred from U.S.

After Waldheim’s election became official Sunday, the Justice Department in Washington said that it would be almost impossible to prevent him from visiting the United States if he wished, even if he were put on the government’s list of undesirable aliens.

Before and during the campaign here, the World Jewish Congress in New York and other organizations revealed that Waldheim had served in the German army in the Balkans from 1942 to 1945, despite the former U.N. chief’s statements in his autobiographies that he retired after suffering wounds on the Soviet front in 1942 and pursued a law degree in Vienna.

Waldheim was also accused of having been a member of Nazi organizations while he was a student in Vienna.

It was disclosed that during his Balkans service, he was attached to the German Army Group E whose commander, Gen. Alexander Loehr, also an Austrian, was hanged in 1947 for war crimes committed in Yugoslavia.

Wiesenthal, who has been critical of the World Jewish Congress’ methods in the Waldheim case, said Sunday that the Austrian president-elect is being blamed for Loehr’s crimes.

Blamed for Loehr’s Crimes

“Waldheim was a lieutenant and they have tried to make him responsible for deeds by his commanding officer, Loehr,” Wiesenthal said. “There is not a single document showing Waldheim was actually involved in war crimes.” He called for an international investigation of the charges against Waldheim.

Waldheim was also accused by some Jewish organizations of being involved in rounding up partisans in Yugoslavia and also having knowledge of Jews in Greece who in 1944 were transferred to concentration camps in northern Europe.

Under pressure of the disclosures, Waldheim was forced to admit that he had served with Hitler’s army in the Balkans, but he continued to deny any knowledge of war crimes and of any culpability for them.

The charges created a stir in several Western nations, especially the United States and Israel, but Austrian voters appeared to pay them little heed in their balloting Sunday.

“It’s all propaganda,” said one pro-Waldheim voter on Sunday.

Strong Showing

Waldheim ran stronger in mountainous upper Austria than he did in Vienna and the Danube lowlands where the Socialists have been traditionally stronger than the Conservatives.

However, in almost every area he drew more votes than he did in the May 4th balloting.

“We don’t think the charges by the World Jewish Congress were the overriding issue,” said Waldheim’s campaign manager, Heribert Steinbauer, at the headquarters of the People’s Party as early projections came in Sunday afternoon.

“The voters continued to see Waldheim as a leading international figure. They also saw him as the candidate of the People’s Party and there’s a conservative tide running in Austria.

“But it’s also clear that the Austrians did not like foreign interference in our election.”

Foreign Meddling

That was Steinbauer’s reference to one of Waldheim’s themes in the campaign--that the foreigners, and particularly the media, were meddling in the Austrian election, having trumped up charges against him.

Waldheim continued to insist that like many Austrians, he was only doing his job by serving in the Wehrmacht.

However, the largely conservative press in Austria has not played up the various disclosures about Waldheim’s role with Army Group E. So some political observers here say it is questionable how much the average voter was informed about the charges against Waldheim.

Outside Austria, the election was also seen as a chance for this country, which was formally annexed to Germany’s Third Reich by Hitler in 1938, to come to grips with its Nazi past. But according to Austrian political observers, the voters did not see the election in anything like those terms.

Improved Position

Wiesenthal and others here also said they thought that the criticism of Waldheim only served to improve his position among Austrian voters, contrary to the hopes of some foreign critics.

For many Austrians, the vote for Waldheim was a vote for a conservative and also for a man who was a leading international figure during his two terms as secretary general of the United Nations from 1972 to 1982.

After the election, Waldheim, though personally an independent, appeared at the People’s Party headquarters to thank the party hierarchy as a brass band played military marching songs in the street outside--across from Vienna’s Opera House.

Some political analysts in Vienna have suggested that Austria, with Waldheim as president, might run into difficulties with other Western nations because of his background.

However, very few of the voters in Austria seem cognizant that Waldheim might be considered something of an international pariah, particularly if any of the war-related charges are substantiated.

‘Criticism Will Calm Down’

While Waldheim preferred to ignore such matters, his campaign manager Steinbauer, said:

“I think a lot of this criticism will calm down now that the election has been decided.

“The media and governments will realize the difference between the accusation and the reality.”

In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Patrick Korten said that Waldheim’s election means it will be virtually impossible to bar him from entering the United States.

The Reagan Administration has been debating whether Waldheim should be placed on a “watch list” of foreigners barred from the United States because of his Nazi past, and Korten said it may still be take that action. But he said it would have little practical effect.

Diplomatic Status

“The laws provide foreign heads of state with diplomatic status,” Korten explained. “In addition, there are diplomatic exceptions in the immigration laws. As a result, it is quite clear that for the time that he holds the office of president, he’ll be entitled to that status, regardless of what action we take.”

He said the diplomatic exceptions would allow Waldheim to make private visits as well as official trips. “As long as you are a head of state, you possess diplomatic status regardless of the purpose of your travel,” he said.

Asked if Waldheim’s diplomatic status would permit him to enter the United States without an official invitation, Korten said authorities are not in agreement thus far on interpretation of the law.

“If the question arises,” he said, “it will be a matter for diplomatic decision-making.”

Two months ago, the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations recommended that Waldheim be put on the watch list under a 1978 law that allows the United States to exclude aliens who participated in Nazi atrocities. There are about 40,000 people currently on the watch list, Korten said, but Waldheim would be the only head of state.

In London, Waldheim’s election triggered a demand that he also be barred from entering Britain. Greville Janner, a member of Parliament from the opposition Labor Party and a member of the executive board of the World Jewish Congress, called for the ban, saying “I am confident that neither this nor any other British government will allow him to enter our country.”

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s office said she will not have any immediate comment on Waldheim’s election.

In Vienna, political analysts said that Waldheim, though a member of Austria’s older generation, managed to garner a high percentage of the young voters in this election.

For his part, Steyrer ran a low-key campaign and did not generate much excitement.

A former health minister who served as a medic in the German army during World War II, Steyrer was seen as a lackluster candidate and not the strongest possible opponent the Socialists might have put up against Waldheim.

Waldheim has said he wants to create a more active presidency and will work to do so.

He said he hopes to “develop Austria” and improve its position in Europe.

If, as president, he becomes more activist, Waldheim may leave in doubt the role of Socialist Party Chancellor Fred Sinowatz, who some political observers say may call for a new election before it is due next year, to try to clear the air and re-establish the dominant position of the Socialist Party.