Waldheim, Installed as President of Austria, Attacks Anti-Semitism

VIENNA — Kurt Waldheim was installed as president of Austria on Tuesday, and in an inaugural speech he condemned anti-Semitism as protests continued over his alleged involvement in the persecution of Jews and others during World War II.

Appearing strained and drawn--he has suffered from a bowel infection in recent weeks--the former U.N. secretary general lashed out at Nazism in his address before Parliament. Socialist Party members whose candidate had been defeated during the presidential campaign sat in silence as Waldheim spoke. Some wore black ties as a protest over Waldheim’s alleged ties to Nazism.

The ambassadors of the United States, the Soviet Union and Israel were not present at the ceremony.

Later, as Waldheim walked along the streets amid tight security to the presidential offices in the Hofburg palace, his supporters scuffled and clashed verbally with demonstrators protesting his elevation to a six-year term in the largely ceremonial office.

‘Never Again’

Invoking the slogan, “Never Again,” the Jewish vow to prevent a repetition of the disaster that befell Jews and others during the Nazi Era, Waldheim declared in his inaugural speech:

“The ‘Never Again’ sworn atop the rubble of the Second World War by Austrians referred then and refers today not only to the horrors of the Holocaust but also to the frightening frame of mind that caused it: anti-Semitism.

“It must, therefore, be our intention that is renewed every day to consider and treat each of our fellow citizens as brother and sister--regardless of which race, which religion and which conviction he holds,” he said.

In an apparent allusion to Austria’s own powerful Nazi movement during the Hitler Era, Waldheim said that his countrymen had also suffered under the Nazis.

“In 1938, immediate after the Anschluss (Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria), the first transports with Austrian patriots began rolling to the concentration camps,” he said. “Many of them did not return.”

He added: “But the calculated annihilation of millions of Jewish fellow human beings by the National Socialist (Nazi) regime was what left a particularly horrible mark on this time.”

No Mention of Controversy

The speech made no mention of the controversy over his past. The tall, slender 67-year-old former diplomat, who succeeds highly popular Rudolf Kirchschlaeger, won the presidency in a June 8 runoff in which he was supported by the opposition conservatives.

His opponents contend Waldheim was involved in war crimes as a German army officer in the Balkans, that he knew of deportations of Jews to death camps and that he lied about it all for 40 years.

Waldheim has acknowledged serving in the Balkans but has denied any personal wrongdoing.

There was scattered applause and some cheering from the crowd of several thousand as Waldheim walked to the Hofburg and laid wreaths of red and white carnations at a soldiers’ memorial and at a monument to all those killed in the two World Wars.

As he approached the huge building that was once the residence of Austrian emperors, a group of three Americans and three Austrians hoisted a placard that read, “No to the War Criminal President.”

Police confiscated the sign but allowed the demonstrators to remain with a large photograph of Waldheim in a World War II German army uniform and an oversize facsimile of a U.N. War Crimes Commission document implicating the new president in war crimes.

The protesters’ chants of “Waldheim Never” were soon drowned out by the pro-Waldheim crowd shouting, “Long live Waldheim.” Some Waldheim supporters cursed the protesters and shouted “Down with Israel.”

The anti-Waldheim group included Rabbi Avraham Weiss and Glenn Richter, both of New York City, and Rose Thering, a nun from South Orange, N.J.

Anti-Waldheim Rally

There was some shoving as the group attempted to move on to a small anti-Waldheim rally in St. Stephen’s Square. Some of the pro-Waldheim crowd jostled the placard-carrying Austrian women, and they moved away inside a cordon of police officers amid a chorus of obscenities.

The protesters, some wearing caricature Waldheim masks, had a 12-foot-high wooden horse bearing a Nazi swastika--until police ordered them to remove it. The horse was displayed as a reminder of Waldheim’s membership in a Nazi riding club before the war.

An elderly man in the hostile crowd surrounding the small group of protesters said: “Jews are allowed to commit murder. They do it all the time, even now.”

“When we criticize them for calling our president a war criminal, we’re branded anti-Semitic,” said another member of the crowd who said he had fought in the German army in the Soviet Union.

He described the protest as a “gross manipulation of democracy.” “We don’t go to America and say Reagan must go. I pity (the protesters),” he said.

In Tel Aviv, About 80 young people and Holocaust survivors rallied outside the Austrian Embassy and gave the consul a letter demanding that Waldheim be brought to justice.

Holocaust Movie

Inside the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, legislators and Holocaust survivors gathered to watch a screening of the nine-hour movie “Shoah,” which means Holocaust in Hebrew and portrays the Nazis’ attempt to annihilate European Jews.

The screening of the film was intended to convey “our protest and condemnation . . . of that country (Austria) and the people who chose to place that man at their head,” said legislator Nahman Raz.

Most of the countries represented in Austria sent ambassadors to the ceremonies. Israel withdrew its ambassador following Waldheim’s election and ordered its charge d’affaires not to attend the inaugural ceremony. U.S. Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder and the chief Soviet diplomat here said they had previous commitments and could not attend.

Representing the United States was Felix S. Bloch, the second-ranking American diplomat. The Soviets also sent their No. 2 man.

A Soviet Embassy official who asked for anonymity said Ambassador Mikhail T. Yefremov was “on a regular holiday that had been planned for a long time.” He said his absence had nothing to do with the Waldheim controversy.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Walter Kohl said Lauder will attend Waldheim’s reception for the heads of diplomatic missions on Thursday.