Justice Department Finds That a ‘prima Facie Case’ Exists to Bar Waldheim from Entering the U.S.

The State Department expressed hope Monday that the Justice Department’s decision to place Kurt Waldheim on a watch list barring him from entry into this country, would not harm the friendly relations between Austria and the U.S.

The State Department statement said the Justice Department has “determined a prima facie case of excludability exists” against Waldheim.

“This determination was based on United States law forbidding entry to any foreign national who assisted or otherwise participated in activities amounting to persecution during World War II,” the statement said.

The Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations recommended in April 1986 that Waldheim be placed on the watch list, but Attorney General Edwin Meese did not act until Monday. The decision came the day after Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the day before the U.S. official ceremony for the Days of Remembrance is to be held in the Capitol Rotunda.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman took pains to stress that the action was not aimed officially at an Austrian President. He said the decision was based on Waldheim’s “past activities” as “an individual.”

“We value our relationship with Austria highly and we will work to strengthen our friendship,” he said. He noted that “our normal day-to-day contacts” in Austria are with Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and his Ministers. “We hope this decision will not affect those contacts or the cooperative friendly relations we enjoy with the people of Austria,” Redman added.

Vranitzky, who is due to visit Washington soon, is head of government, while Waldheim is head of state, a largely ceremonial post. When Secretary of State George Shultz was in Vienna last November he did not call on Waldheim.

The Justice Department decision means that its Immigration and Naturalization Service would bar Waldheim if he were to try to enter the U.S. Redman said that U.S. Consulates have also been instructed not to give Waldheim a visa should he ask for one.

Waldheim presumably would not be barred from attending a session of the UN where he was Secretary General from 1972 to 1982.

Redman said that Waldheim could still be allowed to enter the U.S. if he received the approval of the President and Secretary of State. However, realistically, he is not expected to try to come here.