Kurt Waldheim

Kurt Josef Waldheim (21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian diplomat and conservative politician. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992.

Political career
Waldheim published an autobiography. During his campaign to become president in 1986, it became public that some statements in that biography were not true. These were about his past. Waldheim was an officer for Germany in the Second World War. He became an oberleutnant in the Wehrmacht.  Waldheim participated in Operation Kozara in 1942. According to one post-war investigator, prisoners were often shot within only a few hundred meters of Waldheim's office and  away at the Jasenovac concentration camp. Waldheim later said, "he did not know about the murder of civilians there".

A commission of several historians looked at the issue. They decided Waldheim had behaved as he should have done. They said he had not committed any war crimes. However, in his role of an officer, he must have known about the deportation of about 40.000 Jews into concentration camps. These transports were against the law. Thus, he was not allowed to travel to the United States any more.

In 1990, he had a success: Saddam Hussein held several foreigners as hostages at the start of the Second Gulf War. When Waldheim heard this, he went to Baghdad. Through talks he got Hussein to release the Austrian and the Swiss hostages. Both countries are neutral.

Death
On June 14, 2007, Waldheim died of heart failure.Reports: Ex-UN Chief Waldheim Dead at 88 

References

Category:1918 births
Category:2007 deaths
Category:Austrian people of World War II
Category:Austrian autobiographers
Category:Government ministers of Austria
Category:Military personnel of World War II
Category:Writers from Vienna
Category:Politicians from Vienna
Category:Presidents of Austria
Category:Recipients of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria