Betrayal: The Untold Story of the Kurt Waldheim Investigation and Cover-Up

by Eli Rosenbaum, William Hoffer

On March 4, 1986, the front page of The New York Times trumpeted a startling disclosure: Kurt Waldheim, the former Secretary General of the United Nations and the current President of Austria, had served as an aid to a notorious Nazi war criminal. Now for the first time, the inside story of the scandal is told by the man who led the multi-year investigation which exposed Waldheim's past. 8-page photo insert.

538 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1993

Reviews

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kurt Waldheim was born in Austria in 1918. Once he reached adulthood, he decided to enter foreign service. A law was passed in 1936 that required prospective civil service careers to have some military service, which I actually think is probably a good idea. (People who have never experienced military service or wartime service where they have to deal with conflicts on a national scale lack the knowledge to properly serve to the full capacity.) At any rate, he applied for a year long enlistment in the Austrian Army. He applied for college and was accepted and given a scholarship, however he lost the scholarship when Germany annexed Austria in 1938. He got side jobs to continue his education. Stupidly, he applied for membership in the National Socialist German Students' League. (I say stupidly because of what happened later in his life, but I can see why he did so at the time that he did it.) He also became a member of the SA. In 1941, he was drafted to the Wehrmacht. He was wounded and sent back, but he claimed he was never in service after that, instead finishing his degree.

He joined the diplomatic service in 1945. In 1971, he ran for the position of Secretary General of the United Nations. He won that election, and another one for a second term of this position. He ran for President of Austria in 1971, which did not work out, but the one in 1986 was successful. During this second running, it was published in the media his membership in the Nazi Party and his activities in the military. It was uncovered that he was targeted for war crimes by the United Nations, though he was never tried. It's bizarre that he would be allowed to have a career with them since they knew about his shenanagins. Partly due to these scandals and accusations of his war time behavior, he did not seek reelection when his term ended.

Here are some indisputable facts. He was certainly a member of the SA. He was certainly a member of the National Socialist German Students League. He was certainly a member of the Wehrmacht. He certainly was active in World War II for the German military machine. His service record is intact, showing his rank of Lieutenant. None of that is a myth or rumor. A great number of males were conscripted into service if they did not volunteer, and even under 18 children were used in the war machine. Joining these organizations were required or required if you wanted to continue going to school and being a part of the activities. I think a lot of people forget about that. Not every person was a stone cold killer, up to shenanagins. There were thousands of men in the military doing what everyone in every military does- marching around trying not to be killed while killing whoever their enemy combatants were, cooking meals for everyone, mechanics, medics, etc. I do not think it is fair or right to deny jobs and lives to people who simply served in the military. Unfortunately, this particular war machine is guilty of really horrible crimes. There were thousands of men who happily participated in them, and it is possible that this particular man was party to that. If the United Nations thought he had gotten up to enough to have his name and target him for war crimes, I'd say it is pretty likely that he was into something. It is also pretty suspicious that he tried to lie and hide things.

As far as this book goes, it was an okay read. It wasn't my favorite book from this time period, but it wasn't the worst one that I have ever read. I had actually never heard of this man, so I did learn a lot about him. I think there are a few lessons posited in this book, which I mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also there is a lesson that a well placed public relations story can make or break someone's career. Also an important lesson is that everything we do is subject to historical record and can be used against or for us in our later lives and affect our social standing and career choices. People ask for your work history, and can contact friends, family, and coworkers regarding your work performance and personality. I think a lot of people forget that, and also forget that things that they post on social media are also part of the public record. This book is a good reminder of some of those things. If you are interested in this man, this is a good book with a lot of information about his life and career. I would recommend it.

[Sevelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhausting rabbit hole of a read and a fine argument against lawyers authoring books without the assistance of a ghost writer and editor to save them from their own verbosity. This story was also hurt badly by the fact that in a sense, Waldheim quite literally won, so there’s an absence of happy endings here, despite the heroic efforts of the author and his team. The entire tale casts a shadow on Austria and Austrians, as well as Simon Wiesenthal, many of whom excused Waldheim and looked the other way. But two facts remain: Waldheim was one big honkin’ Nazi, and this book badly needed to be cut.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable, but long, exhausting, and sometimes (necessarily) repetitive record of Waldheims war record and the effort to discover the truth about it.

[Milenko Kindl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Čita se kao politički triler. Austrijanci se nikada nisu odrekli svije nacističke prošlosti.
Međutim, ni Simon Wirsenthal nije ono što su mnogi mislili da jeste.