Waldheim

In denying Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi past (letter, April 9), Austrian Ambassador Friedrich Hoess rejects the findings of the commission of inquiry that his own government established to examine Waldheim’s record.

The International Commission of Historians, impaneled by Austria, concluded in its report released on Feb. 8, 1988, that Waldheim was “unquestionably” a member of the Nazi SA--the “Brown Shirts.” The commission also cited documents which “prove Kurt Waldheim’s membership in the Nazi student federation,” noting that his membership resulted from his “personal initiative.”

The commission also found that Waldheim had personally facilitated Nazi war crimes. It explicitly stated that Waldheim “repeatedly assisted in connection with illegal actions and thereby facilitated their execution.”

As Austria’s ambassador in Washington, Hoess should be familiar with the Justice Department ruling barring Waldheim from ever entering this country. The Justice Department found “that there is sufficient evidence to implicate Mr. Waldheim personally, and in conjunction with the small functional units to which he was attached, in acts which clearly constitute persecution under established legal precedent.”

ELAN STEINBERG

Executive Director, World Jewish

Congress, New York