1 PURELY COMMENTARY
`A Skull Cap and Strudels': A Waldheim Indictment
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
B
ritish TV will soon produce
another "trial" of a famous/in-
famous person in the limelight
when it portrays "the trial of Kurt
Waldheim." Barristers will represent
the accusers and defenders and the cost
of the production will be $2.5 million.
The accusations will undoubtedly
include the massive evidence assembl-
ed against Kurt Waldheim in the ac-
cumulted evidence by two authors, Luc
Rosenzweig and Bernard Cohen in
Waldheim, first published in France
and now issued in the English transla-
tion of Josephine Bacon by Adama
Books.
Waldheim's guilt, the manner in
which it is finally revealed, the sources
of the accusations against him, as well
as the arguments of his defenders
receive impressive consideration in this
volume. In its French edition it receiv-
ed acclaim, and the Express of Paris
stated: "Here is Waldheim, head of the
Austrian state, elected, above all, chief-
ly for being the incarnation of Austria's
national amnesia."
Understandably, resentment is ex-
pressed in Austria over the exposure of
a continuing anti-Semitism in
Waldheim's country. Waldheim's share
in fanning the hatred becomes apparent
in a volume of some 180 pages which,
nevertheless, emerges as an en-
cyclopedic account of hatred and guilt
in the sharing in Nazi atrocities by the
accused Austrian chief.
Many of the facts related here have
been given previous attention in the
media. The disrespect shown by
Waldheim to Jewry and to Israel is
recorded here. There is special attention
to that aspect of Waldheim's prejudices
in a chapter which Rosenzweig and
Cohen headlined "A Skullcap and
Strudels." In it the authors reveal in
part:
The former permanent
representative of Israel at the
United Nations, Yehuda Blum,
injects some spite into the pic-
ture he paints of Kurt Waldheim.
Yet it was well-known that the
two men were on excellent terms
in the reception rooms and cor-
ridors of the UN. Waldheim men-
tions him in the latest rehash of
his autobiography as being "a
nice man who speaks German:'
Yehuda Blum concedes that
during a recent stay in Vienna
— before the affair broke — he
telephoned Waldheim and in-
vited him to lunch. "I still ask
myself how such an
uninteresting man could have
reached such a position. He
gives me the impression of a lit-
tle politician. I never managed
to talk to him about anything
but politics;' says Blum who
claims to have been unaware of
his Nazi past and even the ex-
istnce of the United Nations files
on Nazi criminals. "I am sure
that no one in the Israeli delega-
tion knew about it:'
Yet, Gideon Raphael who
was Israeli Ambassador to the
United Nations from 1967-1968,
having been a member of the
Israeli delegation from the crea-
tion of the State of Israel until
1953, confirms that he himself
was well aware of the existence
of such archives. As for Kurt
Waldheim, he knew him when
Waldheim was still Austrian
Ambassador to the United Na-
tions, and he describes him as "a
superficial human being whose
principal gift was for making
political evaluations which were
invariably wrong:'
However, the strangest
episode and the biggest faux pas
occured during the 31 hour visit
which Kurt Waldheim paid to
Israel on July 30 and 31, 1973.
Shortly after his arrival, he was
taken to Yad Vashem, the
Luc Rosenzweig and Bernard Cohen
Holocaust memorial, in
Jerusalem. Gideon Hausner,
former prosecutor at the
Eichmann trial, guided him
through the museum, showing
him the photographs of the
genocide of the Jews, and stop-
ping for a long time before a
large reproduction of
Mauthausen, the Austrian con-
centration camp. Hausner says
that Kurt Waldheim listened to
him carefully, and replied three
or four times, "Yes, yes, I know,"
or "I remember it;' when he
passed in front of pictures il-
lustrating the Anschluss.
They then went toward the
Ohel Yizkor, which literally
means "Tent of Remembrance."
An eternal flame burns in the
semi-darkness, in memory of the
six million Jews who were vic-
tims of the Holocaust. The
names of the concentration
camps are engraved on black
tablets. This is a place of prayer.
A guard handed Kurt Waldheim
a skullcap for him to cover his
head before entering. He refus-
ed to take it and entered the
crypt. Yad Vashem's director,
Hahn Pazner, ran after him to of-
fer him another skullcap.
Waldheim took it and put it in
his pocket. Hausner tried t per-
suade him to put it on.
Waldheim said no. "I decided
not to interrupt the ceremony,
but the fact is that Waldheim
was the first visitor to Yad
Vashem ever to have refused to
cover his head during this
ceremony," Hausner recalls.
To explain his refusal,
Waldheim says, "I came here as
Secretary-General of the United
Nations and in my own way, I
honor the Jewish peope who
have suffered so much:' The in-
cident caused a scandal. Kurt
Continued on Page 42
Literary Cheers From Our Senior Citizens
E
ncouragement to our senior citi-
zens, in their daily life, health-
wise and in home-protecting, is
and will always surely be a priority in
social planning. When the planning for
the elderly commences to include the
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Vol. XCII No. 17
2
December 18, 1987
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1987
cultural and spiritual aspirations of the
seniors, a new level is reached in the
sharing of the common interests of the
generations. Then it is also mind-
shapening and an elevation of the
spirit.
A highly cultured lady in our com-
munity has made it her hobby, which
often appears to be her dedicated life's
work, to make this an attainable task.
Norma Goldman is a professor of
Latin and Greek at Wayne State
University. Archeology — she has done
digging in Israel — is her hobby. In the
Jewish Center branch on Ten Mile Road
she is the guide and associate of senior
citizens who love to write poetry and
some who also express the philosophy
of their lives in opinions of topics of
Jewish and world interest in literary
essays. She guides them and publishes
their creative results. They are publish-
ed in an annual volume which has
become an accepted literary-publishing
project here — even in multigraphed
form. The communal achievement is
now at hand again.
"Writers' Journal" is more than a
compliment to the Jewish Community
Center for work in the Senior Adult
Division. It symbolizes recognition of
talent, as the current edition of the jour
nal does in making the work of Phillip
Goren noteworthy. It introduces Goren
as both poet and sculptor. If it were
possible to identify each of the more
than a score of writers in the
multigraphed volume, it would form a
veritable encyclopedia of concerned
citizens whose devotions are Jewish and
their loyalties American.
An important avenue thus was pav-
ed for concientious citizens to make a
cultural contribution to the communi-
ty. They are provided a way of creating
by writing and expressing their sen-
timents. Else there could have been
frustrations among the elderly. Now,
-
those who are provided means of par-
ticipation can feel a sense of producing
something for themselves, their
families, the community. Norma
Goldman earns gratitude for making
this possible with her academic
guidance.
'Timebends'
In The Life
Of Arthur Miller
T
is a
imebends: A Life
most appropriate title for a most
interesting book about a most in-
teresting man. It is the
autobiographical story of Arthur Miller
(Grove Press).
There are many sensations in this
extensive account of a life made notably
interesting by the prominent playwrite.
Beginning with Death of a Salesman,
Continued on Page 42