Did Nothing Wrong, Waldheim Insists

President Kurt Waldheim of Austria said Tuesday that he did nothing wrong as a German army officer during World War II and that the U.S. decision to bar him on grounds of involvement in Nazi atrocities is incomprehensible.

“I have a clear conscience. . . . You can trust me,” Waldheim told the nation in a five-minute speech on radio and television.

On Monday, the United States put the former U.N. secretary general on its watch list of undesirable aliens barred from entering the United States, citing evidence that he aided in the deportation for execution of thousands of Jews and others.

A U.S. official at the United Nations in New York said that, if Waldheim sought to attend a U.N. session, “a policy decision would have to be made on whether to admit him.”

The decision to bar Waldheim from the United States was welcomed Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who said in an Israeli television interview from Paris, “The United States democracy can be credited for that.”

Waldheim, who is 68 and was elected to the largely ceremonial presidency last June, thanked Austrians for an “impressive wave” of support expressed earlier Tuesday in a government statement rejecting the U.S. charges.

He said he has asked researchers to prepare a “White Book” about his activities during World War II and “this documentation will be made available to the public shortly,” he said.

Wiesenthal’s Idea

Charges about his World War II activities have plagued Waldheim since early last year, and he has consistently denied them. Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal told the Associated Press earlier Tuesday that Waldheim should allow an investigation by an independent group of military historians, who could make a report in four or five weeks.

In his speech, Waldheim made no direct reference to accusations that he was linked to Nazi atrocities in Greece and Yugoslavia. He did not mention the Nazi Holocaust or Austria’s role in the war. Germany annexed Austria in 1938, and some Austrians served in the German army in World War II.

“Once again, as in the last 12 months, there is talk of supposedly new papers,” Waldheim said. “Let me emphasize that the can be no proofs of guilty conduct.

“Let me say in all simplicity, but also with clarity that cannot be misunderstood: I have a clear conscience.”