The files on Kurt Waldheim, stored at the United Nations archives will be made available to Israel and Austria on Wednesday, Israeli and UN officials said Monday.
Israel requested access to the files last Friday and Austria made its request Monday. Waldheim, who served as UN Secretary General from 1972-81 and is running for the Presidency of Austria in next month’s elections, has been widely accused of having participated in war crimes while serving as a Wehrmacht officer in the Balkans during World War II.
The request by Austria was made by that country’s Ambassadors to the U.S. and UN, Thomas Klestil and Karl Fischer, respectively, in a letter sent Monday to UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar. A UN official said arrangements have been made for dealing with the requests. According to the official, representatives of Israel and Austria will be allowed to make copies of the files.
The official added that the procedure is confidential and is being worked out by the UN legal office and the Israeli and Austrian Missions to the UN.
The UN archives contain an estimated 40,000 files compiled by the now-defunct United Nations War Crimes Commission on suspected Nazi war criminals. The files are stored in a building on Central Park West in Manhattan. They are accessible only to governments upon formal request and must be handled in strictest confidentiality, the UN official said.
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