Waldheim Says He Knew About Nazi Atrocities

Austrian President Kurt Waldheim acknowledged that he knew atrocities were committed by his German army group during World War II but said he kept silent because he wanted to survive, a Vienna newspaper reported Friday.

A six-member historical commission issued a report this week stating that Waldheim, as a staff officer in the Balkans, knew about war crimes committed by his unit but did nothing to prevent or distance himself from the injustices. It concluded that he bore no direct responsibility for the crimes, however.

In his first published interview since the commission’s report, Waldheim said that like other soldiers in Adolf Hitler’s army, he did only what was necessary to survive the war, the conservative newspaper Die Presse reported.

“Practically every soldier in the Balkans knew that reprisal actions were carried out,” he was quoted as saying. “The fact that, as a staff officer, I was, here and there, better informed could be true, but I did not volunteer for the job.”

“I pay the deepest respect to all those who offered resistance, but I ask for understanding for the hundreds of thousands who did not, but were still not personally guilty,” he added.

“We certainly didn’t do any more than try to survive the war. Yes, I admit I wanted to survive.”

Waldheim also reiterated that he will not bow to pressure to resign as president, Die Presse said.

“I see it as my duty to continue to serve this country and its people,” he said.

Waldheim, a two-term secretary general of the United Nations, has been banned from the United States and other countries because of his World War II record.

Today, Waldheim is to accompany Jordan’s King Hussein, on a four-day official visit to Austria, to Innsbruck, where the king often vacations.

Waldheim’s office said he will make a 5-minute address on national television Monday, but a spokesman said he could not disclose its contents.

Political Fallout

Despite Waldheim’s most candid remarks to date on his wartime service, political fallout from the historians’ report continued.

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karl Gruber criticized the conclusions of the historians because one member is “a Socialist” and several others are “of Jewish heritage.”

In an interview with Italian television Thursday night that was broadcast on Austrian Radio, Gruber, a conservative party member and a close aide of Waldheim’s, said the commission was “against” the president.

“The German member (Manfred) Messerschmidt is a Socialist, and several others are of Jewish heritage. Waldheim is a only a symbolic figure and is attacked because Austria paid less reparations (to the Jews) than West Germany.”

One member of the commission was Yehuda Wallach, an Israeli historian, but whether any of the others were Jewish could not be determined through checks with the Foreign Ministry and other sources.

Gruber, a resistance fighter against the Nazis, was Austria’s first foreign minister after the war and brought Waldheim into the diplomatic service.

Chancellor Apologizes

Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, a Socialist, sent telegrams to each commission member apologizing for Gruber’s remarks, which he said “have nothing in the slightest to do with the government’s view of your work.”

Austria’s Jewish community, in a Telex to news organizations, said Gruber’s statement expressed “the deepest hatred of Jews.”