World Notes UNITED NATIONS

They are probably the most extensive and carefully documented files on Nazi war crimes in existence. Yet for decades the 40,000 dossiers, compiled by the 17-country War Crimes Commission at the end of World War II, have been gathering dust on the eighth floor of a United Nations office building in New York City. Next week Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar will decide whether researchers and historians will be given access to the confidential records, which were "discovered" by Israeli officials last year. The documents sparked the controversy over the alleged participation in Nazi war crimes of Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. Secretary-General who is now President of Austria. Opponents of increased access argue that the archives contain unsubstantiated charges that could harm innocent people. Counters an Israeli diplomat at the U.N.: "Secrecy will hurt, not help, those who might be innocent."