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Nazi Hunter Beate Klarsfeld Demands Waldheim Resign

December 16, 1987
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Nazi-hunter Beate Klarsfeld affixed a poster to the front door of Kurt Waldheim’s office Friday demanding that the Austrian president resign.

The poster displayed a photograph of Waldheim in his World War II German army uniform alongside one of Austrian Jews being forced to scrub the pavements after Austria became part of the Third Reich by the 1938 Anschluss.

The poster read: “No more liar-president with a war criminal file. Waldheim must resign.” It was removed from the door by a policeman.

A plain-clothes officer took Klarsfeld’s name, examined her passport and asked her to leave the premises. There was no further police action, the World Jewish Congress reported Tuesday.

Klarsfeld told reporters that she acted to draw attention to the fact that the United Nations war crimes archives contains a file on Waldheim, a former U.N. secretary general who concealed his wartime activities for 40 years. She said she also wanted to remind people that next year is the 50th anniversary of the Anschluss.

The WJCongress has accused Waldheim of a role in the deportation of Greek Jews and atrocities against civilians and partisan fighters while he was an intelligence officer in the German army in the Balkans during the war.

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