Waldheim was a very junior lieutenant (in his early twenties) during the war. I have trouble beliving that he was a policy maker given his age and rank.
Given the political nature of the issue,I don’t know what to believe about his guilt or innocence.
May he rest in whatever level of peace he deserves.
I remember that I attended a lecture given by Danniel Patrick Moynihan in 1985/6. His belief was that the Russians knew all along that Waldheim was implicated in nefarious doings in the Balkans during the war (or could be portrayed has having played a part in some things). They hid their knowledge and helped him get elected to the UN SG spot, and afterwards black-mailed him into appointing a number of KGB guys to sensitive and important posts in the UN Secretariat. He summed up his speech that day by saying that Waldheim’s having succumbed to that blackmail was going to be the start of the gradual corruption of the entire UN.
Exactly...Fisk’s piece is so full of vitriol and hatred it is rendered convoluted and confusing. Wehrmacht Oberleutnant (1st lieutenant and the highest rank he achieved) were minor functionaries. Besides the SS would have been charged with the political murders that Fisk is speaking of, not the Wehrmacht, and the SS was extremely rice bowlish about its role and would hardly been expected to include a Wehrmacht officer in its ranks.