The World - News from July 3, 1988

Austrian President Kurt Waldheim withdrew a slander suit against Edgar M. Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, who had accused the former U.N. secretary general of being “part and parcel of the Nazi killing machine” while serving in the German army in World War II. A spokesman for Waldheim said the decision was based in part on the refusal of the U.S. Justice Department to provide legal assistance in the suit. Other reasons were Waldheim’s desire to calm the controversy over his military service and the conclusion of an international group of historians, who said they could find no evidence of his direct participation in war crimes.