Austria a Hard-Fought, Bitter Victory

By JANICE C. SIMPSON

As is customary on election day, Austrian voters donned their Sunday finest before going to the polls to choose a new President. The formality seemed to reflect a widespread somberness as they cast their ballots in the final round of a five-month presidential campaign that had evolved into a painful referendum on the country's past. The race was overshadowed by allegations that Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations Secretary-General (1972-1982) and candidate of the conservative People's Party, had lied about his knowledge of Nazi atrocities committed while he served as an officer in the German army during World War II. Despite evidence that he had obscured major episodes of his military career, Waldheim, 67, defeated his Socialist opponent, former Health and Environment Minister Kurt Steyrer, 53.9% to 46.1%. Said Waldheim after his victory: "I am very happy to have received such overwhelming proof of trust from a majority of Austrians."

The special runoff came five weeks after Waldheim narrowly failed to win a majority of the popular vote against Steyrer and two other candidates. In the final weeks of the campaign, Austrian anger about the international storm over Waldheim's murky military past created a wave of sympathy for him that played a critical role in his victory. Waldheim had long claimed that he had been discharged from the Wehrmacht after being wounded on the Eastern Front in 1941. In March the New York City-based World Jewish Congress disclosed that Waldheim had served in the Balkans from 1942 to 1945 as a first lieutenant on the staff of General Alexander Lohr, who later was executed for war crimes. Waldheim eventually conceded that he had omitted parts of his army record from his official biography, but insisted that he had not been involved in any wartime atrocities.

Thus far, no evidence has surfaced to link Waldheim to specific war crimes. Still, the debate over Waldheim's Nazi past struck a responsive chord among the Austrian people, and many of his countrymen rallied behind him. "My husband was drafted at age 17," said a Vienna woman. "If he were more prominent, he too might be wrongly accused of war crimes."

The Socialists treated the controversy gingerly. Only recently did Steyrer begin to allude openly to the damage a Waldheim victory could inflict on the country's reputation. WITH STEYRER, ALL OF AUSTRIA WINS proclaimed one campaign poster. Bruno Kreisky, the Socialist ex-Chancellor, last week appealed to his countrymen not to vote for Waldheim. Asked Kreisky: "Didn't we always have decent Presidents whom we could show in public?"

Waldheim's victory is unlikely to restore his credibility abroad. Indeed, new allegations about the President-elect's shadowy war record continued to pile up last week. A former Yugoslav intelligence officer claimed that after the war he passed along the names of 30 alleged Austrian war criminals to the Soviets as possible agents. Waldheim's name, he said, was on that list. In Washington, debate continued over whether to place Waldheim on a Nazi war- crimes watch list that bars those named from entering the U.S. As head of state, Waldheim will almost certainly be allowed to visit under diplomatic immunity. But, says a Justice Department spokesman, "his hair will probably get grayer waiting for an invitation."

With reporting by Gertraud Lessing/Vienna