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Waldheim Decries
Austria's War Crimes
Vienna (JTA) — In a speech
on Austrian television, Presi-
dent Kurt Waldheim apolo-
gized for Austrians' Holo-
caust crimes and called for
reconciliation, but insisted
that Austria was the first vic-
tim of the Third Reich.
Waldheim's controversial war-
time activities has resulted in
a prohibition against his
speaking at any of the official
events commemorating the
50th anniversry of Austria's
annexaction by the Third
Reich.
Waldheim said, "An ava-
lanche of suffering went down
on this country, which was
the first victim of Hitler's ag-
gression, but the worst ever
happened to our Jewish com-
patriots." He added that
"although we do not accept
the idea that there is a collec-
tive guilt, I do want to
apologize as head of state for
the crimes committed by
Austrians."
As Austria commemorates
the anniversary of the An-
schluss, Austrian Chancellor
Franz Vranitzky said last
week that the discussion
about Austria's role before
and during World War II is
fiercer than anyone would
have predicted. Former U.N.
Secretary General Kurt Wald-
heim's successful run for the
presidency split the country
and changed its image
abroad.
Despite the controversy sur-
rounding the era, the country
commemorated the destruc-
tion of the Austrian state and
sovereignty in a dignified
way. For the first time,
Austria held a nation-wide
minute of silence, during
which work, traffic and school
lessons stopped. The central
and official acts of com-
memoration were held in the
Austrian Parliament and the
Hofburg Palace.
Activities dealing with the
problems of the Anschluss
will continue throughout
1988 — evidence of an inter-
nal re-evaluation of Austria's
role in the Nazi-period. They
include symposia probing the
historical, military and
political background of the
Austrian trauma of 1938.
Iran Jews' Spiritual
Future Is Questioned
Jerusalem — Concern for
the spiritual future of Iranian
Jewry, because of the continu-
ing and deepening Islamiza-
tion of the country, was ex-
pressed recently by a Hebrew
University of Jerusalem pro-
fessor of Persian language
and literature.
Iranian-born Prof. Amnon
Netzer said that of the 80,000
Jews who lived in Iran before
the Islamic revolution, there
are some 25-30,000 remain-
ing today. Of those who have
left, some 20,000 have come
to Israel, he said, with the
balance going to other coun-
tries in the free world, par-
ticularly to the Los Angeles
area in the U.S.
The truly worrying aspect
about the Jews who have re-
mained in Iran revolves
around the issue of Jewish
education, said Netzer. The
education ministry has
created mandatory school at-
tendance districts within the
cities. Jewish schools have
now become part of this
district public school system,
said Netzer, and as a result,
Jewish children are now
learning in Islamic schools.
Despite this, Netzer said
that many Islamic leaders
have gone out of their way to
praise Judaism and to even
visit synagogues, but they
also stress that the Jews of
Iran are different than the
Jews of Israel or of America in
that they are not Zionists. In-
deed, there is a phenomenon
today of organized anti-
Zionist Jews in Iran, Prof.
Netzer said.
Those Jews who have
stayed in Iran come primari-
ly from the lower middle
class, and some of them ac-
tually have improved their
economic status beyond that
which they enjoyed before the
revolution, said Prof. Netzer.
Bus Crash
Injures Tourists
Jerusalem (JTA) — About
55 American tourists were in-
jured Tuesday when their
bus, bound for Egypt, skidd-
ed and flipped over on a wet
road in the Negev. Twenty-
two of the tourists were ad-
mitted to a hospital in
Ashkelon. Two were reported
in serious condition. The
others were discharged after
treatment.
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