Reagan Administration Refuses to Reverse Its Decision on Waldheim

Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky was unable to persuade the Reagan Administration to reverse its decision barring Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from the United States during his visit to Washington last week.

Vranitzky, who met with President Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz and members of Congress, told a National Press Club luncheon audience that he had hoped that the U.S. would weigh the 40 years of “excellent relations” with Austria against the American law that required it to bar Waldheim.

He conceded, however, that his expectations that the U.S. would lift the ban had been “very low.” When he was asked at a press conference after his meeting with Reagan last Thursday, if he thought the ban might now be lifted, he replied, “quite frankly no.”

At the same time, he stressed that this decision will not affect the relations between the two countries.

Vranitzky told the press conference that Reagan stressed to him that the Administration had no choice but to act as it did under U.S. law.

But Reagan emphasized that the decision to put Waldheim on the U.S. “Watch List” of persons barred for their participation in Nazi atrocities during World War II was “not directed at the Austrian people, government” or Waldheim as President of Austria, Vranitzky said.

PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE CITED

The State and Justice Departments, in placing Waldheim on the Watch List April 27, said the evidence it had “establishes a prima facie case that Kurt Waldheim assisted or otherwise participated in the persecution of persons because of race, religion, national origin or political opinion.”

Waldheim has been charged with participating in atrocities against Jews and others in Greece and Yugoslavia as a lieutenant in the German army.

Vranitzky said last Thursday that the U.S. does not consider Waldheim a war criminal, but someone who was “indirectly” involved in the atrocities. He said the Austrians believe Waldheim had “no personal or “direct” involvement.

There were reports that Reagan and Shultz rejected a proposal from Vranitzky that the U.S. should suspend its decision while Waldheim is in the largely ceremonial office and then put him back on the Watch List when he leaves office.

Vranitzky said both at the press conference and at the press club luncheon last Friday that many Austrians were upset with the decision because they did not understand the U.S. law. He said many considered it to be a criminal “sentence.”

In response to a question Friday, Vranitsky said that while some Austrians blamed Jewish organizations for the U.S. action, this was not the position of the Austrian government. Waldheim’s past became an international issue when his conduct during World War II was raised by the World Jewish Congress.

There have been reports that Vranitsky, a Socialist, who originally defended Waldheim, a Conservative, has recently been trying to distance himself from the Austrian President.

An Austrian diplomat told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that most Austrians would like to see the whole issue disappear. He said this includes Waldheim’s opponents as well as his supporters.

CALLS FOR EDUCATION

Vranitzky said Friday that Austria must pay “attention” to what he called the “shadows of the past” to ensure that it never happens again. He said this education is especially needed for Austria’s youth.

While stressing he rejected “collective guilt” for his nation, he said young Austrians must be taught that “hundreds of thousands of Austrians were forced to leave their country or died in concentration camps” and other Austrians “contributed” to this.

But Vranitzky stressed both at his press conference and in his luncheon address that Austria has been a haven or transit point for 2 million refugees since World War II. He particularly noted that some 600,000 Soviet Jews have come through Austria on their way to “havens” elsewhere.

He pledged that Austria was ready to server again as a transit point for Soviet Jews, if unofficial reports were true that large numbers of Jews will be allowed to leave the USSR.