Kohl Invites Waldheim to Lunch, Stirs Anger

Breaking an unofficial international shunning of Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl invited the former officer in the Nazi army to lunch today in what was described by the Bonn government as a “polite gesture” and by Jewish leaders as a moral outrage.

Kohl plans to meet with Waldheim in Munich, where the 74-year-old Austrian is being honored by a conservative foundation for his contributions to world peace and freedom.

Waldheim, a former United Nations secretary general, has steadfastly denied allegations that he had a role in Nazi war crimes while serving in Adolf Hitler’s army in World War II.

Although the now-disbanded U.N. War Crimes Commission agreed there was a prima facie case for prosecuting Waldheim when the allegations surfaced in 1986, the charges were not pursued. Waldheim nonetheless found himself on a diplomatic desert island, ostracized by Western leaders and officially barred from entering the United States under an immigration rule used to exclude political undesirables and common criminals.

Kohl’s office tried to play down the chancellor’s lunch with Waldheim, stressing that it will be a private, not official, visit.

“They are not sitting down for a political exchange of opinions,” insisted a government spokeswoman who asked for anonymity. She later conceded, however, that “of course they’re not going to talk about the weather, and politics will come into play.”

“This is a polite gesture, not just toward Waldheim but toward the people of Austria,” the spokeswoman added.

Asked what Germany’s official position is regarding Waldheim, she directed the query to the Foreign Ministry.

At the Foreign Ministry, spokesman Hanns Schumacher testily refused to answer any questions about the subject.

In New York, the World Jewish Congress, which represents the Jewish communities in 70 countries, including Germany, condemned Kohl for “going out of his way” to meet Waldheim, whose six-year term expires next month. The organization made the initial allegations in 1986 that Waldheim was involved in the deportation of Jews in the Balkans to Nazi death camps.

The tete-a-tete between Kohl and Waldheim also comes at a critical point in German-Israeli relations. Following the U.S. lead, Kohl has rejected Israel’s request for billions in loan credits to ease a housing shortage caused by the recent influx of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.