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In 1971 he ran for president on the People’s Party ticket but lost
He was reelected in 1976 despite some opposition from less-developed countries
but a third term was vetoed by the Chinese government in 1981
He won election to the Austrian presidency in June 1986 for a six-year term
An international investigation by a committee of historians cleared Waldheim of complicity in war crimes
but as president he was a rather isolated figure on the international scene
he chose not to run for a second term in 1992
The “Waldheim affair” triggered a fundamental debate in Austria about the country’s past during World War II
Metrics details
Mylabris sibirica is a hypermetamorphic insect that primarily feeds on oilseed rape during the adult stage
the limited availability of genomic resources hinders our understanding of the gene function
a high-quality chromosome-level genome of M
with a scaffold N50 of 13.84 Mb and 99.85% (138.25 Mb) of the assembly anchors onto 10 pseudo-chromosomes
BUSCO analysis showed this genome assembly had a high-level completeness of 100% (n = 1,367)
containing 1,358 (99.4%) single-copy BUSCOs and 8 (0.6%) duplicated BUSCOs
a total of 11,687 protein-coding genes and 35.46% (49.10 Mb) repetitive elements were identified
The high-quality genome assembly offers valuable genomic resources for exploring gene function
but there are no reports on the genome of M
which limits the development of novel technologies for controlling M
whether for studying molecular mechanisms of development
sibirica will have some recommendations for medical treatment
we generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of M
We annotated protein-coding genes (PCGs) and repeat elements
This study provides the first genome assembly for M
which will facilitate studies on gene function
and ecological adaptation and also greatly benefit efforts to manage the pest
sibirica adults used in the study were obtained in July 2023 from B
The adults were reared under suitable conditions (25 ± 2 °C
and 50 ∼ 60% relative humidity) in the insectary for one week
The adult tissues (two males after removing the gut) were used to perform PacBio
Genome survey at 21-mer of Mylabris sibirica estimated by GenomeScope
The vertical dotted lines represent the peaks of different coverages for the heterozygous
Genomic heatmap. Genome-scale chromosome heatmap of Mylabris sibirica, with individual chromosomes outlined in blue.
Each circle from inside to outside represents simple repeats
short interspersed nuclear elements (SINE)
the mapping rates were 95.23% for Illumina reads
these values show the high level of genomic assembly in our study
All commands and pipelines used in data processing were executed according to the manual and protocols of the corresponding bioinformatic software
Functional genomics of Brassica napus: progresses
and management of flea beetles in Brassica crops
RNAi silencing CHS1 gene shortens the mortality time of Plutella xylostella feeding Bt-transgenic Brassica napus
Distribution characteristics of the main medicinal Insects of Meloidae in the Hasi Mountain
Strategies and techniques to mitigate the negative impacts of pesticide exposure to honey bees
Pesticides impacts on human health and the environment with their mechanisms of action and possible countermeasures
a potential target for RNA interference-based pest management
RNAi assays in the striped flea beetle (Phyllotreta striolata) suggest Psγ-COPI and PsArf1COPI as potential molecular targets for pest control
Genome-wide analysis of V-ATPase genes in Plutella xylostella (L.) and the potential role of PxVHA-G1 in resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin
with a key to the Jordanian species of the nominotypical subgenus (Coleoptera: Meloidae)
combinations and status in the Chinese species of the family Meloidae Gyllenhal
1810 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) with additional faunistic records
Molecular phylogenetic studies of the Mylabrini blister beetles (Coleoptera
Evaluation of reference genes for quantitative expression analysis in Mylabris sibirica (Coleoptera
Exploring cantharidin and its analogues as anticancer agents: a review
Hepatotoxic mechanism of cantharidin: insights and strategies for therapeutic intervention
Cantharidin treatment inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma development by regulating the JAK2/STAT3 and PI3K/Akt pathways in an EphB4-dependent manner
Quantification of cantharidin in canthariphilous ceratopogonidae (Diptera)
anthomyiidae (Diptera) and cantharidin-producing oedemeridae (Coleoptera)
Cantharidin: potent feeding deterrent to insects
Hi-C: a comprehensive technique to capture the conformation of genomes
Bushnell, B. B. Available online: https://sourceforge.net/projects/bbmap/ (accessed on 1 October 2022)
GenomeScope: fast reference-free genome profiling from short reads
Haplotype-resolved de novo assembly using phased assembly graphs with hifiasm
Identifying and removing haplotypic duplication in primary genome assemblies
Minimap2: pairwise alignment for nucleotide sequences
Juicer provides a one-click system for analyzing loop-resolution Hi-C experiments
De novo assembly of the Aedes aegypti genome using Hi-C yields chromosome-length scaffolds
MMseqs2 enables sensitive protein sequence searching for the analysis of massive data sets
Cytogenetic analysis of Epicauta atomaria (Meloidae) and Palembus dermestoides (Tenebrionidae) with Xyp sex determination system using standard staining
NOR and synaptonemal complex microspreading techniques
Recombination nodules in coleopteran species: Palembus dermestoides (Tenebrionidae) and Epicauta atomaria (Meloidae)
The sequence alignment/map format and SAMtools
RepeatModeler2 for automated genomic discovery of transposable element families
The Dfam database of repetitive DNA families
a database of repetitive elements in eukaryotic genomes
Smit, A. F. A., Hubley, R. & Green, P. RepeatMasker Open-4.0. Available online: http://www.repeatmasker.org (accessed on 1 October 2022)
Infernal 1.1: 100-fold faster RNA homology searches
Rfam: annotating non-coding RNAs in complete genomes
tRNAscan-SE: Searching for tRNA Genes in Genomic Sequences
MAKER2: an annotation pipeline and genome-database management tool for second-generation genome projects
BRAKER2: automatic eukaryotic genome annotation with GeneMark-EP+ and AUGUSTUS supported by a protein database
Combining RNA-seq data and homology-based gene prediction for plants
HISAT: a fast spliced aligner with low memory requirements
AUGUSTUS: a web server for gene finding in eukaryotes
GeneMark-EP+: eukaryotic gene prediction with self-training in the space of genes and proteins
OrthoDB v10: sampling the diversity of animal
bacterial and viral genomes for evolutionary and functional annotations of orthologs
Genome of the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis)
reveals key functional and evolutionary innovations at the beetle-plant interface
Chromosome-level genome assembly reveals genomic architecture of northern range expansion in the mountain pine beetle
Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
The first chromosome-level genome assembly of Entomobrya proxima Folsom
The Release 6 reference sequence of the Drosophila melanogaster genome
Whole-genome sequences of 37 breeding line Bombyx mori strains and their phenotypes established since 1960s
Fast and sensitive protein alignment using DIAMOND
Fast genome-wide functional annotation through orthology assignment by eggNOG-Mapper
InterPro in 2017-beyond protein family and domain annotations
The Pfam protein families database in 2019
20 years of the SMART protein domain annotation resource
SUPERFAMILY–sophisticated comparative genomics
Gene3D: extensive prediction of globular domains in proteins
CDD/SPARCLE: functional classification of proteins via subfamily domain architectures
NCBI Sequence Read Archive https://identifiers.org/ncbi/insdc.sra:SRR29001182 (2024)
NCBI Sequence Read Archive https://identifiers.org/ncbi/insdc.sra:SRR29001180 (2024)
NCBI Sequence Read Archive https://identifiers.org/ncbi/insdc.sra:SRR29001183 (2024)
NCBI Sequence Read Archive https://identifiers.org/ncbi/insdc.sra:SRR29001181 (2024)
NCBI Assembly https://identifiers.org/ncbi/insdc.gca:GCA_039776855.1 (2024)
Shen, C. Genome annotation (repeats and protein-coding genes). figshare. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25687182 (2024)
BUSCO applications from quality assessments to gene prediction and phylogenomics
Download references
This research was supported by the National Major Special Project of Breeding for Genetically Modified Organisms in China (No
2016ZX08012-005) and the Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (No
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms Traceability
Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science/Supervision and Test Center (Wuhan) for Plant Ecological Environment Safety
Center for Science and Technology Dissemination and Industrial Development
Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science
Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences
collected the samples for genome sequencing and conducted bioinformatics analysis
All authors read and approved the final manuscript
The authors declare no competing interests
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04532-9
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The Waldheim Waltz, Copyright Ruth Beckermann Film Production 2018
“The truth is on the march and nothing shall stop it,” Émile Zola once wrote regarding the Dreyfus affair. In fact, the truth often appears to be a bit bogged down, inert, buried, in desperate need of being ferreted out. Truth, in many ways, requires a manual undertaking. As Zola, the most committed Dreyfusard of his day, would later wryly admit as much to a friend, “Oh, yes, the truth is on the march—but at a snail’s pace! We will be dead by the time it triumphs!”
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By CV Weekly on June 13, 2024No Comment
we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
J’s Maintenance celebrated being in business 55 years at an event on May 30 at its far north Glendale offices in the 3500 block of Foothill Boulevard
Chris Waldheim is the CEO of J’s Maintenance
a commercial janitorial service that is family-owned and operated
J’s Maintenance began 55 years ago when Ed Waldheim and his wife Linda established the business working alongside their children Chris and Michelle
J’s had the maintenance contract for Levitz Furniture stores
They had the contract for all Levitz stores
So Chris and Ed boarded a motorhome and went from store-to-store to supervise their employees
Chris Waldheim was actually born in Argentina
The family moved to the Eagle Rock/Glendale area in 1971
Sunland in 1991 and then to Glendale in 2005
The Waldheim family knew this community well because they have been part of it since coming to the U.S
He graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in business administration
Though he has been on the payroll with J’s since 1980
this company has been in his heart since birth
J’s Maintenance started as a commercial janitorial company but expanded into home care with its J’s Maids service
“Congratulations to Chris Waldheim on the 55th anniversary of J’s Maintenance,” said Adam Franko at the May 30 celebration
“This incredible milestone is a testament to decades of exceptional service
Franko was speaking as the president of the Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce (MVCOC)
J’s Maintenance has become a benchmark for quality and reliability in the commercial janitorial industry by offering customized service plans
24/7 availability and employing high trained
The company has set industry standards and earned the trust and loyalty of its clients,” Franko said
Waldheim’s successful business extends to a commitment and support for his community
J’s Maintenance is much more than a business – it is community
Waldheim is known for his philanthropic work that extends from the local area to beyond
He has a member of the Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce (MVCOC) for over two decades and
quickly became a key figure in local events and initiatives
Waldheim has been on the food committee for the MVCOC Oktoberfest event
and chaired the committee every year since 1999 except for the two years that it was not held due to the pandemic
“Leading to an impressive 24 Oktoberfests under his belt,” Franko said
Waldheim is also on the board of several other organizations and events including the Montrose Christmas Parade and CV Fireworks
He has been recognized with several awards including the Frank Roberts Award
“We celebrate this milestone with immense gratitude and admiration for your incredible contributions,” Franko said
Waldheim also supports local non-profits by purchasing ad space in CV Weekly every week to highlight local organizations including bingos held at the American Legion Post 288
Prom Plus and many more worthwhile organizations
He opens his office conference room to many of these organizations
He has also been a long time supporter of the Mary Pinola Educational Fund
Waldheim said he is grateful for all of the support he receives from his employees that allows him the ability to volunteer and to travel
Waldheim is well known as a lover of travel
“I feel like I have the perfect life thanks to J’s [employees/family],” he said
he thanked his family saying they have “put up with a lot through the years” as he was out and about volunteering and helping the community
There are some businesses that are philanthropic but with Waldheim it is obvious that “paying it forward” is something that comes from his heart
he made sure to remind anyone in the audience who had a non-profit event coming up to reach out to CV Weekly
“We’re always looking for more people to [feature in] the ad
so I know we have helped VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars)
we helped the Bailey Center Food Bank and we have helped a lot of different groups but I know there are more groups out there that need help,” he said
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be such an integral part of the community
We’re going to keep doing it as long as we can.”
J’s Maintenance: 55 Years of Business and Serving the Community added by CV Weekly on June 13, 2024View all posts by CV Weekly →
Here are five things to know about the local rugby prodigy …
During the 2023-24 World Rugby Sevens Series — a set of tournaments between December 2023 and this past June for national sevens teams from around the globe — Norsten was named series rookie of the year
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where she is a member of the women’s rugby squad
Norsten was selected as the Canada West conference and U Sports national rookie of the year in 2022
and a Canada West first-team all-star in the 2023 season
she was named to the Olympic squad just five years after she started in the sport
15-year-old Norsten represented Team Lakeland at the Saskatchewan Winter Games in North Battleford
she saw her sister Christina on the rugby pitch and decided to give it a try
(Her sister is quite the role model herself
having earned a rugby scholarship to Lindenwood University in St
3 — Norsten calls Waldheim — the valley town located approximately 55 kilometres north of Saskatoon — her home
She was the lone Saskatchewan athlete on Canada’s rugby sevens squad
Since her senior year at Queen Margaret’s School
she’s also been a member of the University of Victoria women’s rugby squad
is one of the all-time great running backs for the University of Saskatchewan football program
His name is found throughout the team’s record book
Morrie has the fifth-highest single-season rushing total in program history (864 yards in 1994); second-most yards in a game (244 versus Calgary in 1994); and he’s top-10 historically in all-time rushing touchdowns
He helped the Huskies advance to the 1994 Vanier Cup
where the Dogs lost 50-40 in overtime to the Western Mustangs in what is still widely considered the greatest Vanier Cup ever played
5 — Norsten and her Canadian teammates shocked the rugby world this week in Paris
in front of a crowd of 70,000 people largely pulling for the home country
in the semi-finals against second-ranked Australia
Canada trailed 12-0 early but went on a massive run to claim a 21-12 win
In the final against the powerhouse defending Olympic champs from New Zealand
Canada led at halftime but ultimately fell 19-12 to earn the silver medals
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Kurt Waldheim was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations for a five-year term beginning on 1 January 1972
The Security Council had recommended the appointment on 21 December 1971 and the General Assembly approved it by acclamation on the following day
The Secretary-General was born at Sankt Andra-Wordern
He graduated from the University of Vienna as a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1944
He is also a graduate of the Vienna Consular Academy
Waldheim joined the Austrian diplomatic service in 1945
and from 1948 to 1951 he served as First Secretary of the Legation in Paris
He was head of the personnel department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Vienna from 1951 to 1955 In 1955 he was appointed Permanent Observer for Austria to the United Nations and later that year became head of the Austrian Mission when Austria was admitted to the Organization
first as Minister Plenipotentiary and later as Ambassador
From 1960 to 1962 he was head of the Political Department (West) in the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs
subsequently becoming Director-General for Political Affairs until June 1964
Waldheim was Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations
During that period he was Chairman of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space; in 1968 he was elected President of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
Waldheim was Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria
he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Safeguards Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency
and in October 1970 he again became the Austrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations
a post he held until he was elected Secretary-General of the Organization
he was one of the two candidates for the Federal Presidency of Austria
During his first three years as Secretary-General
Waldheim made it a practice to visit areas of special concern to the United Nations
In March 1972 he travelled to South Africa and Namibia in pursuance of a mandate given him by the Security Council in order to assist in finding a satisfactory solution for the problem of Namibia
The Secretary-General paid three visits to Cyprus
for discussions with government leaders and to inspect the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in the island
Waldheim arranged for talks to begin between Acting President Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash
The Secretary-General also made a number of trips to the Middle East in the continuing search for peace in the area
Egypt and Jordan; in June 1974 he met with the leaders of Lebanon
Jordan and Egypt; and in November 1974 he went to Syria
Israel and Egypt in connection with the extension of the mandate of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)
On these visits he also inspected the United Nations peace-keeping operations in the area - the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO)
the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) and UNDOF
during an official trip to the subcontinent
the Secretary-General discussed with the Governments of India,Pakistan and Bangladesh the problems created by the war between India and Pakistan and ways and means to overcome its consequences
He also inspected the United Nations Relief Operation in Bangladesh
the largest relief operation ever undertaken under United Nations auspices
the Secretary-General visited a number of countries in the Sudano-Sahelian area of Africa where the United Nations had undertaken a major relief operation to assist the victims of a prolonged drought
The Secretary-General also opened and addressed a number of major international conferences convened under United Nations auspices
These include the third session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Santiago
the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm
the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (Caracas
the World Population Conference (Bucharest
August 1974) and the World Food Conference (Rome
The Secretary-General participated in Security Council meetings held away from Headquarters
January 1972) and in Latin America (Panama
He addressed and attended meetings of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Rabat (June 1972 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the OAU
in Addis Ababa (May 1973) and in Mogadiscio (June 1974)
He also addressed the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington (March 1972)
the Secretary-General took part in the Paris International Conference on Viet-Nam; in December of the same year he presided over the first phase of the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East
Waldheim addressed the Conference on European Security and Co-operation in Helsinki
On the invitation of their respective Governments
the Secretary-General paid official visits to a number of countries in Africa
Waldheim is the author of a work on Austria's foreign policy
which has been published in German,English and French
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After a bravely fought 6-month-long battle with lung cancer
She claimed her favourite class was recess and her best subject was spelling and penmanship
she developed a love for Elvis Presley (both his movies and his music)
a lifelong obsession with the colour purple
and an appreciation for Coca-Cola collectibles which grew into quite an impressive display
Her childhood years were spent building strong friendships with schoolmates
Another source of friendship was her large group of over 100 cousins that extended from Manitoba all the way west to British Columbia
She loved staying in touch and knowing about each and every one.
she tried several different types of jobs in the city
but in 1975 was given the opportunity to work in the kitchen at the Menno Home back in Waldheim
She learned everything she knew about cooking in that kitchen
eventually working her way up to head cook
providing delicious food for the residents
so too was the camaraderie of her coworkers
and loving work life to its fullest with colleagues that felt more like family.
If you didn’t know she loved to laugh
She gravitated towards those with a great sense of humour because laughter was always an important part of home life growing up
or an off-the-cuff story that resulted in hilarity
Jan’s home was a revolving door where everyone was welcome
She was always up for a visit; countless conversations were had around her kitchen table with friends who stopped by or with her brothers
who would keep her up late regaling her with their silly stories.
you’d soon learn how good she was and she would proceed to politely beat the pants off you
but not many knew Jan was also a card shark
highly skilled at Texas Hold ‘Em poker
Trivial Pursuit — she loved them all
she was known for her love of jigsaw puzzles
completing so many over the last few years with her good friend Ann.
she loved you; making meals was her love language
and the best cream gravy you’ve ever tasted were a few of her specialties
though everything she made was fantastic.
After many years of gathering dates and names in the 1980s
she managed to compile a family tree that everyone wanted a copy of
and from repeatedly typing out the information
she could rattle off anyone’s birthdate or anniversary
She even good-naturedly let the whole Striemer family put her to the test at a 2006 reunion in a game we called “Stump Jan.” She was unstumpable
and leaves this world the undisputed family history champion.
Speaking of family… Jan was predeceased by her parents Carl & Rosella (nee Giesbrecht) Striemer; brothers Garry Striemer and Randy Striemer; sisters-in-law Molly Striemer and Linda Striemer; nephew David Goertzen; and sister-cousin Pearl Frostad.
She will be missed by all those who made memories with her
including her devoted daughter Traycee Martens and loving grandson Greyson Wiebe of Saskatoon; her younger sisters Jeannette Garbe and Carla Striemer of Saskatoon; her sister-cousins Laverna Philip of Red Deer
Kansas; nieces and nephews Lee Striemer of Saskatoon; Tiffany Marlin (Ron) of Galveston
Texas; Colton Garbe (Skyla) of Saskatoon; Tyra Wall (Ben) of Saskatoon and Taylor Goertzen of Saskatoon
Grand nephew and nieces Tayah Disney (Patrick) of Houston
Texas; Matthew & Katrina Striemer of Regina
Great grand nephew and nieces Sophia & Ava Disney
Plus dozens of cousins and so many great friends.
A Celebration of Life service will be held Friday, November 22, 2024 at 1:30 pm in the Mennonite Brethren Church in Waldheim, Sask. If you are unable to Janice's Celebration of Life, please follow the link for the livestream service: https://funeraweb.tv/en/diffusions/99966
please consider making a donation to Kinsmen Telemiracle
as it has helped many of the people she spent her life dedicated to serving
Martens Warman Funeral Home is honoured to be entrusted with Janice's care
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It may seem perplexing that anybody would criticize Israel’s rescue of four hostages from Gaza
there was criticism of Israel’s rescue of hostages from Entebbe
While Israelis celebrated the June 8 rescue of hostages held by Arab terrorists and civilians in Gaza
United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese accused the Israeli commandos of “perfidiously hiding in an aid truck” in order to enter the neighborhood where the hostages were imprisoned
MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin asserted that the rescuers’ tactics “raise(d) moral and ethical questions,” while former MSNBC host Krystal Ball denounced celebrations of the rescue as “depraved.”
Palestinian Arab terrorists hijacked a French plane on its way to Israel and forced it to fly to the Entebbe airport in Uganda
There they released the non-Jewish passengers
and held the remaining 106 passengers and crew hostage
demanding the release of terrorists who were imprisoned in Israel
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was deeply sympathetic to the terrorists
and Ugandan soldiers helped the hijackers guard the hostages
Israeli commandos raided the airport and freed the hostages
The only rescuer killed was the raid’s leader
brother of Israel’s current prime minister
an elderly passenger who had been taken to a local hospital
Most of the world celebrated the rescue raid on Entebbe
consisting of several dozen African countries
accused Israel of “wanton aggression” and demanded reparations for damage to the airport
The Soviet and Chinese governments denounced what they called “the Zionist aggression.”
United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim charged that Israel had committed a “serious violation of the sovereignty” of Uganda
Waldheim’s past as a Nazi war criminal was exposed
that did not prevent his election as president of Austria in 1986.)
The Mexican government criticized Israel’s “flagrant violation” of Ugandan sovereignty
and declared its “firm rejection of the use of armed force by any state as a means of trying to solve conflicts.”
The Mexican position was especially surprising because just months earlier
it had explicitly promised to refrain from anti-Israel policies
That promise was made in order to secure an end to the boycott of Mexico announced by Jewish organizations following its support of the infamous Zionism-is-racism resolution at the U.N
The French government’s response to the Entebbe rescue was particularly troubling
given the fact that it was a French plane that was hijacked
and French crew members who were held hostage
The French Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement which expressed satisfaction at the rescue
but emphasized its condemnation of the casualties
almost all of whom were the terrorists or the soldiers who assisted them
A spokesperson for the Air France crew read a statement hailing President Amin for his “constant care to ensure our safety
our material comfort and even our health.” The statement appeared to have been dictated by French officials
government publicly praised the Israeli rescue mission
but it also introduced an “even-handed” resolution at the U.N
the resolution also affirmed “the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States.” The resolution did not secure enough votes to pass
At the same time — according to declassified documents — Secretary of State Henry Kissinger informed Israel’s ambassador in Washington that because the Israelis had used US equipment in the raid
“we will have to put a temporary freeze on military shipments.”
Ambassador Simcha Dinitz replied: “You are kidding me.” Kissinger was not kidding
“You know you have no right to do this without prior consultation,” he admonished the ambassador
not equipment.” But Kissinger insisted that the U.S.-made C-130 transport planes were a “military version” of that aircraft and therefore could not be used outside Israel’s borders
Kissinger could have looked the other way; instead
his response was to penalize Israel following its miraculous rescue of the hostages
Israel’s prime minister in those days was Yitzhak Rabin
and the government was ruled by the Labor Party — a reminder that whether Israel’s government is from the political left or the right
and whether its leader is named Rabin or Netanyahu
there will always be those who complain when Israel takes action to defend the lives of its citizens
Medoff is founding director of The David S
Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust
His latest is “Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America,” a nonfiction graphic novel with artist Dean Motter
elections in the 39th World Zionist Congress nears conclusion—voting closes May 4—American Zionist Movement (AZM) Executive Director Herbert Block said there were few barriers of entry to voting in what Jewish leaders are describing as a consequential election
We are here today because Jewish fathers and mothers wanted more than happiness from their children
The bipartisan group includes Los Angeles representatives
Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Ted Lieu (D-West LA)
Speaking ill of someone once most likely leads to a second time
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The 204-page report (available to this day on the Justice Department’s website) noted that “a full opportunity was afforded to Waldheim and his attorney to provide information and to comment on issues” and that “Waldheim took full advantage of this opportunity. Between April and December 1986, Waldheim made seven submissions to the government in an effort to demonstrate that he did not engage in persecutory activities during World War II.”
For more than twenty years, the WJC’s landmark work in the Kurt Waldheim matter served not only as the hallmark of its belatedly restored capabilities and international leadership, but also as the best known— and perhaps most remarkable—of the many important achievements re- corded by the World Jewish Congress during the Bronfman era.
2007 12:00 AM EDTWhen I met Kurt Waldheim in Vienna in 1994
I was spending most of my time covering the brutal fighting and ethnic displacements then racking a disintegrating Yugoslavia
Waldheim had served a painful term as Austrian President
marked from beginning to end by controversy over what he had done
seen or known as a young Wehrmacht first lieutenant in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia in 1942
When his activities there first came under scrutiny during his 1986 campaign
“I did my duty like hundreds of thousands of Austrians” during the war
The Austrians responded by resoundingly electing him under the defiant slogan “now more than ever.” But the defiance faded after early 1987
when he was barred entry to the United States and became an international pariah
After six years as a lonely captive of the Hofburg
valiantly protesting his innocence but rarely invited anywhere
he had declined to run for a second term in 1992
He would live a wealthy but constrained existence for another 15 years
he was ensconced in his opulent offices at the Austrian League for the United Nations — but he was still under siege
Freedom of Information Act requests had pried open the 1987 Washington report that put Waldheim on the Justice Department’s “watch list.” The document placed him in Banja Luka in the summer of 1942
when the Nazis had rounded up the city’s Jews and the Wehrmacht was fighting an anti-partisan offensive in the Kozara Mountains to the north
Reprisal killings against civilians were part of the Germans’ brutal efforts to quell armed dissent in the region
The report didn’t prove any direct personal responsibility of Waldheim
who was serving as a quartermaster’s deputy
argued that “one doesn’t have to pull the trigger to be implemented in crimes.” Waldheim was having none of that: “unfounded allegations and accusations
The question of guilt in a command structure is no less complex now than it was then; Waldheim was no card-carrying Nazi
but he had been an officer in a unit that had a very dirty war in the Balkans
His clean-vest spiel particularly rankled me because I’d been spending a fair amount of time in Banja Luka myself
Less than a year before my interview with Waldheim
the city’s principal mosque had been totally razed by Serbs
and most of the Muslim population driven out of the city
Serbs in Banja Luka had taken me on a bizarre tour of the camps further west where they held Muslim prisoners
the suffering of thousands languishing in refugee camps
Could the conflict have been any less gutting in 1942
for in his memoirs — the English translation of which bears the weirdly exculpatory title In the Eye of the Storm — Waldheim had simply skipped over his three years of military service in the Balkans
I couldn’t fathom how anyone’s experiences in a time and place like that could fail to figure in any honest account of a life
When Waldheim made a point of showing me that he was reading Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s List — the movie had been released there just a week or so before our interview — I developed a strong sense that we’d talked long enough
The true depth of Waldheim’s involvement in Banja Luka and elsewhere in the Balkans may never be known for certain
By the end of his life he’d regretted having referred to his military service there as a duty done
and he acknowledged that it was a mistake to have excised the Balkans from his memoirs
and largely as a result of what will always be known as the Waldheim Affair
Austria finally got beyond its mythic self-image as the first victim of National Socialism and faced up to its own share of responsibility in Hitler’s assault on human values
Waldheim was an ambiguous marker on that road to a broader truth
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On 27 April 1987, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that former UN Secretary-General and Austrian President Kurt Waldheim would not be allowed to enter the United States after it was conclusively determined that he participated in Nazi war crimes during World War II
The World Jewish Congress was actively involved in the campaign to expose Waldheim’s war crimes and ban him from entering the United States and other western democracies
WJC General Counsel Eli Rosenbaum met with Holocaust survivor and Austrian Jewish community representative Leon Zelman
who confided in Rosenbaum that he was suspicious of Waldheim’s war record
Zelman pointed to a half-page article in an Austrian weekly magazine
who was running for president,” had been General’s Alexander Loehr’s “personal adjutant in the Wehrmacht.” In 1947
the infamous Loehr was charged by the Yugoslav government for war crimes
While Rosenbaum was admittedly skeptical that an investigation would bear fruit
and following the conclusion of the Plenary Assembly traveled to Austria to investigate the allegations
Rosenbaum and Zelman discovered that despite Waldheim’s earlier claims that after sustaining a leg wound he had returned to Vienna to resume his law studies
he had in fact returned to German military service as a senior intelligence aide to General Loehr
and was present for a large-scale massacre of civilians and captured partisan fighters
black-and-white photo of Waldheim and three other officers at Podgorica on 22 May 1943
Rosenbaum presented the evidence to The New York Times
“Files show Kurt Waldheim served under war criminal.” Despite the serious allegations
Waldheim did not abandon his bid for the presidency
the WJC responded by conducting additional research in the U.S
National Archives and in European archives
The organization managed to unearth pertinent wartime documents
including many that named Waldheim or were initialed or signed by him
Among the findings were that Waldheim signed off on propaganda leaflets containing vicious antisemitic expletives about “the accursed Jews” and “blood-sucking Jews,” as well as one that exhorted Red Army soldiers to join the Nazis
Arguably the most dramatic finding in the controversy
which quickly came to be known internationally as “the Waldheim affair,” was the discovery of postwar documentation at the U.S
which showed that Waldheim had been listed in February 1948 as wanted by the UN War Crimes Commission (UNWCC)
Waldheim had been assigned the UNWCC’s “A” classification
signifying that his apprehension was of the highest priority
In what was almost universally reported as a diplomatic snub
US Ambassador to Austria and future WJC President Ronald S
Lauder did not attend the inaugural ceremonies
Realizing that a criminal investigation of Waldheim was no longer an achievable objective
Department of Justice to bar Waldheim from entering the United States
under a 1978 immigration statute that rendered participants in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution inadmissible to the United States
The WJC shared all its evidence with the Office of Special Investigations
The Department of Justice subsequently announced that Waldheim would be barred from entering the United States because he “assisted or otherwise participated in the persecution of persons because of race
or political opinion.” Waldheim became the first sitting head of state in history to be formally barred from entering the United States
The WJC leadership persuaded other countries to close their borders to Waldheim as well
the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s efforts to secure invitations from foreign governments for official visits by Austria’s controversial president were largely unsuccessful
as not even one major Western head of state visited Vienna during Waldheim’s term
Ruth Beckermann’s investigation into Kurt Waldheim’s Austrian presidential campaign is as engrossing as it is relevant
lies and politics in postwar AustriaThis article is more than 3 years oldRuth Beckermann’s investigation into Kurt Waldheim’s Austrian presidential campaign is as engrossing as it is relevant
that nation’s collective consciousness experienced a painful return of the repressed
a psychological agony recalled by director Ruth Beckermann in this documentary
who had been UN secretary general from 1972 to 1981
was running for the presidency very largely on the grounds of his international prestige
Waldheim had claimed in his autobiography to have been invalided out of (conscripted) military service on sustaining a wound at the eastern front in 1942
But in the febrile few weeks leading up to the election
together with New York Times reporters and researchers from the World Jewish Congress
discovered documents showing his active membership of the SA
the Nazi Party’s original paramilitary wing
and then his senior rank among the German army’s Group E in Greece and Yugoslavia
The Waldheim Waltz is available on 25 March on True Story.
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from good motives and for justifiable ends since 1847
The Spectator is Hamilton College's independent
Listen
Kurt Waldheim in 1971Hamilton College’s Board of Trustees
opted to uphold an Honorary Degree awarded to Kurt Waldheim
The Hamilton archives website states that Hamilton gave Waldheim a Doctors of Law Degree in 1974
Hamilton alum Walter Kass H’78 P’16 first approached the board with a case to rescind Waldheim’s degree in the mid-2000s
the board and former College President Joan Hinde Stewart decided against rescinding the degree
although the board discussed the matter and opted to uphold their original decision
during his campaign for the Austrian Presidency
it came to light that he served as a lieutenant in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia and Greece during World War II
Waldheim approved a packet of anti-Semitic propaganda to be dropped behind Soviet Union lines
many including the statement “Enough of the Jewish war
According to TIME magazine and the New York Times
Waldheim lied about the supposed early termination of his service
as he in fact had returned to the army after recovering from an injury sustained in 1942
Waldheim completed his law degree at University of Vienna and joined the Austrian diplomatic service
Waldheim served as First Secretary of the Legation in Paris
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna
and as Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations
he ran and was defeated in the 1971 Austrian presidential elections
Waldheim was named Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1972
he was renamed to the same position in 1976
Waldheim ran for an unprecedented third term as Secretary-General
China previously vetoed his selection in 1971 and 1976
but he was selected after they changed their veto to abstentions
China refused to accept Waldheim’s ascension to a third term — vetoing him a record 16 times — eventually forcing him to resign
Waldheim once again sought the Austrian presidency
the campaign cycle was marked by what would become known as the “Waldheim Affair.” The World Jewish Congress
based on United Nations War Crimes Commission files
alleged that Waldheim had lied about his service in the Sturmabteilung and his time as an officer in Greece
Waldheim called the allegations “pure lies and malicious acts,” although he admitted awareness to German crimes
I have either to continue to serve to be executed?”
Throughout his term as President — he served from 1986 to 1992 — Waldheim and his wife Elisabeth were deemed person nongratae by the United States; this designation placed them on a “watch list,” thereby barring them from entering the country
Pope John Paul II awarded Waldheim a knighthood in the Order of Pius IX
Waldheim said he regretted having voiced his “unequivocal” stance on Nazi war crimes too late in his life
the Secretary-General of the United Nations
told Hamilton graduates that “American disillusionment with the United Nations is based on excessive expectations of the world organization and on “a desire to draw away from the harsh realities of our changing world,” adding
politically or even military interdependence is a dominant reality now.” The official archives report having both a recorded audio and print copy of Waldheim’s 1975 speech
Chair of the Board of Trustees’ Honorary Degree Committee
spoke to the board’s decision to uphold Waldheim’s degree
“The question regarding Kurt Waldheim’s honorary degree came before the College’s Board of Trustees years ago
the Board made a decision not to take any action
the current Board discussed the matter at the meeting held on Oct
21 and concluded that there was no new information to warrant changing the original decision,” she told The Spectator via email
The College has never rescinded an Honorary Degree
Waldheim received many honorary degrees from colleges and universities
including the University of South Carolina
It appears that none of these schools have rescinded Waldheim’s degree
Help
IN 1985 Kurt Waldheim was running for Austria’s presidency
It was his second time going for the job—the first was in 1971—and he was fresh from a stint as UN Secretary-General
a role that Franklin Roosevelt described as a sort of “world moderator” in the wake of the second world war
published a piece stating that Waldheim had not been transparent about his military record
Evidence suggested that he had been a member of the SA
and that he had been aware of appalling Nazi war crimes
He had claimed to have been medically discharged in 1942
Her wit and style, brought to life by these directors, make for a most enjoyable evening in
Ryan Coogler’s hit film is a riff on the uses and abuses of genre
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The greatest civilisations of the past 3,000 years were the opposite of MAGA
Ruth Beckermann’s new film, The Waldheim Waltz
is a persuasive accounting of the life and political career of Kurt Josef Waldheim
who served as the fourth secretary general of the United Nations (1972 -1981) and later elected as president of Austria (1986-1992)
The documentary not only lays bare the revelations about his World War II military service that surfaced during his presidential run
but also examines how a country’s very identity can become ensnared in the debate over the misdeeds of one individual
narrates the film providing a calm and poetic commentary on the run-up to the 1985 election
she captures the mood of the Austrian people as Election Day draws near
combined with almost exclusively archival footage and photos
creates a straightforward and fact-based narrative of Waldheim
We see him standing solemnly at memorial ceremony at Auschwitz. During the recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem
he refuses to cover his head but declares later that he has nothing but “admiration and devotion for these people who have suffered so much.” On a visit to Yugoslavia while Austrian minister of Foreign Affairs
he remarks to Communist leader Josip Tito how surprised he is by the loveliness of the country
When pressed if he had ever been there before
Beckermann begins to poke tiny holes in Waldheim’s web of lies
concealed his service in the German SA (the Sturmabteilung
colloquially known as Hitler’s Storm Troopers) and as a special missions officer for Germany’s Army Group E in Yugoslavia and Greece from 1942-1944
When an investigative journalist revealed inconsistencies in Waldheim’s wartime record
the candidate went into overdrive to defend himself
even suggesting on Austrian TV that perhaps his relatives had signed him up and gotten the paperwork wrong
He portrayed himself as having been unwillingly drafted for a cause he didn’t support
spending the next few years pursuing his education and starting a family
The World Jewish Congress presented evidence that Waldheim was implicated in Nazi atrocities and mass murder in wartime Yugoslavia and Greece
but Waldheim’s political ambitions weren’t derailed
The film documents how the Austrian Social Democratic Party circled the wagons
and how Waldheim’s defense becomes less about the historical record and more about depicting him as a victim of a vicious smear campaign conducted by the US
the “Waldheim affair” soon becomes tinged with the language of anti-Semitism
Beckermann’s own footage from the streets of Vienna show ordinary Austrian’s invoking age-old anti-Semitic accusations
Why didn’t the Rothchilds and whoever else distribute the money amongst the people so they could earn something
Waldheim’s playbook for defending himself should be strikingly familiar in our current political climate
blaming opponents of conducting a smear campaign
he turns to a passionate defense of his actions and an invocation of national pride
“I stand before you with a clear conscience
I have done nothing more than thousands of Austrians in those hard times…I was an honest soldier.”
The question of Waldheim’s past transcends the man himself
Beckermann clearly demonstrates that the Austrian election of 1985 became not solely a referendum on Waldheim
but a national reckoning of the Austrian people with their collective involvement in World War II
“He represents the Austrian country perfectly…but it’s a shame.”
but it makes it no less difficult to watch as the film marches toward Election Day
The documentary makes it clear that it takes more than just obfuscating and blaming for a candidate to overcome a scandalous past to rise to power
It takes a complicit populace as well
Wes Hopper is a writer and reviewer living in Los Angeles
Its first exhibition includes a towering wooden horse that sports the brown cap of Hitler’s Sturmabteilung (SA)
when Kurt Waldheim ran for the country’s presidency
playing down his role in the Wehrmacht during the second world war and claiming he had never joined any Nazi organisation
His opponents joked that only his horse had been a member of the SA
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The story of a horse”
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org
An international commission of historians has found “no proof” that Kurt Waldheim committed war crimes
according to the 200-page report it submitted to Chancellor Franz Vranitzky here Monday night
But the Austrian president was far from an innocent bystander when he served as a lieutenant in the German army occupying the Balkans in World War II
according to several members of the panel who commented on the text of the report before it was made public
The historians’ report originally was scheduled to be released Monday
but some news reports late in the day said the Austrian Foreign Ministry suppressed the report at the last minute
The ministry obtained an advance summary of the document on Sunday
but only after the historians reportedly complied with a demand from the Foreign Ministry to excise references to the Austrian president’s “moral guilt.”
Waldheim himself was briefed about the contents of both the original and the revised reports prior to the final version’s release
The commission was set up by the Austrian government last year to examine Waldheim’s wartime record in light of charges that he was implicated in the deportation of Greek Jews and others and in atrocities committed against Yugoslav civilians and resistance fighters
announced Monday that the commission found no proof that Waldheim personally took part in war crimes
but charged that the Austrian president concealed and “even lied” about his wartime activities
The leaders of Austria’s Socialist-Conservative coalition government each had different reactions to the report
said he was deeply concerned by the findings
He said that while the panel found no personal guilt
its report contained some very critical passages about the Austrian president’s military service
who is vice chancellor and chairman of the conservative Peoples Party
stressed the fact that Waldheim was absolved of personal guilt
He said that while there were some remarks critical of the president
the commission’s mandate had been solely to determine guilt or innocence of war crimes
told the West German newspaper Die Welt on Monday that Waldheim “knew his unit committed war crimes.” He said that on that basis
the commission concluded unanimously that Waldheim could be considered “an accomplice.”
said in a French television interview that he believed Waldheim played a significant role in the Wehrmacht’s action
which resulted in the deportation of about 63,000 Yugoslav civilians
“The report will not be a whitewash and at the president’s (Waldheim’s) office
they will not be very happy about it,” said van Welkhuizen
He said the commission’s findings consist of a “series of mosaics,” not a single report
Waldheim will be able to stress whatever he finds useful to his case
A summary of the final paragraphs of the report
reflects a degree of ambiguity on the part of its authors or possibly pressure by the Foreign Ministry to soften or generalize the language
It states at one point that “a certain guilt may arise” from “sheer knowledge about the violation of human rights” if “the person in question
be it because of a lack of strength or courage
violates his human duty to stand up to injustice.”
the report seems almost to absolve Waldheim
saying he had “only modest means at his disposal for resistance against injustice.”
the practical possibilities of acting against the orders are very limited and with all probability would have had hardly an effect
His means would have had to be restricted to protests or to a practical denial of his cooperation,” the report says
said Monday “the president will not resign whatever the results of (the commission’s) findings.”
Sources close to Waldheim told Austrian Radio that his decision not to resign “whatever the findings” was bolstered by a public opinion poll taken last week
The poll found that 72 percent of the respondents believed he should stay in office
regardless of the commission’s conclusions
The poll showed that among members of Waldheim’s People’s Party
92 percent favored his remaining in office
who served two terms as secretary general of the United Nations
was elected president of Austria in June 1986
The first revelations of his Nazi past surfaced during the election campaign in evidence presented by the World Jewish Congress and other Jewish groups
Evidence continued to mount from many other sources
he was forced to admit that for 40 years he had concealed his wartime service
appears on the list of 40,000 suspected Nazi war criminals compiled by the Allied War Crimes Commission during and directly after the war
The War Crimes Commission turned its list over to the United Nations in 1947
The war crimes files remained accessible only to the governments of U.N
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century
Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008
Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published
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has fundamentally changed the way cities urbanize in the 21st century
reflects on the origins of landscape urbanism and theorizes about its continued cultural relevance
Metropolis’s Samuel Medina spoke with Waldheim about stepping back from the style wars
lamented the “miserable nomenclature” that has always haunted the field of landscape architecture
Have some of the same semantic shortcomings migrated to the term “landscape urbanism”
CW: When I was being trained as an architect and stumbled into the field of landscape architecture
I misrecognized it because I had been led to believe that it had primarily to do with plant material
It’s sort of like thinking that architecture has primarily to do with bricks
but it’s not really representative of the field’s value as far as I’m concerned
I was led to believe that because of the way the history of the field played out
I’ve never been an advocate for new academic degrees in landscape urbanism
or in defining the professional identity of the landscape urbanist
I sometimes say it’s now in its middle-age phase
It may no longer have the frisson of a new set of ideas
but we also benefit from having some things built and a body of practitioners who have matured
My New Urbanist colleagues have essentially responded to my work by arguing that landscape is really external
so I decided to step back from that kind of partisan
and to try to do something slightly more durable
and with more of a singular voice—which is to say that what we call this movement matters
SM: You edited The Landscape Urbanism Reader a decade ago
But a global recession separates the two volumes
as does the more recent but less dramatic faltering of the Chinese economy
There’s also the material devastation precipitated by the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami
How have you had to conform or update your theory to these events
CW: The Reader was primarily aimed at a disciplinary audience—people working within architecture
My goal there was to assemble a group of people who weren’t all saying the same thing while giving the project enough coherence so that you could say something is happening
Over the course of the last decade, practices, by and large, have moved into a kind of operational phase, whereas in ’06, most of the work was speculative and unbuilt competition-based entries. But now we’re in this phase where landscape architects are winning major urban commissions—such as Michael Van Valkenburgh’s Lower Don Lands project [2007–15] for Toronto
we have to acknowledge that there have been a whole series of other
I don’t spend a lot of time in the book dealing with individual crises
but I tried instead to revise our received definitions of and understandings of the terms themselves
The other dominant thread of the book is the economic structural analysis
It’s not a coincidence that landscape has just “emerged” in the last ten or 15 years
but in fact there’s this structural relationship between changes in the industrial economy and the spaces that they produce that has led landscape to be called upon by cities today
SM: But do you think that these disasters have proved favorable to the extent that they have brought to the surface urgent issues of ecology
it’s true what you’re saying—that there is now a broader environmental awareness and a deeper set of commitments among the donor class
There is an increased desire for urbanization among cities that are growing especially rapidly
that have a mix of economy around the creative class
I think there’s a structural reason why those kinds of cities have had an interest in commissioning landscape architects to lead big urban districts
and it’s because of a precise configuration of philanthropy
SM: You say landscape practices were stepping into a sociocultural void; it appears that architects stepped into that same void
not just with OMA and Bernard Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette competition schemes [1982] but also their proposals for Downsview Park in Toronto 20 years later
that you inadvertently privilege architects in your account over landscape architects
I’ve been quite ambivalent on one level about the relationship between disciplinary identity and the work
One thing that characterizes this new book is that I’m touching on a range of different fields
but the through line that connects it all is really the medium—landscape
I know many of my colleagues in landscape architecture have
felt as though they needed to defend or protect the field
which they feel can often be undercapitalized or in the shadow of architecture
But I don’t have a particular stake in that game
My book is more interested in the medium of landscape
As planning schools went more and more toward policy
architecture retreated into its own autonomy
and urban design committed to the kind of European model of 19th-century urban form—New Urbanism
There was this generation of landscape architects that
was working after a generation of architects
But the field of landscape has been enjoying a kind of renaissance in the last two decades not because people have been lobbying Congress or have been defending professional identity
It’s because it’s been useful in really solving a set of problems
and that to me is always more interesting than defending or propping up one discipline or another
from the conception of landscape in the 17th century as a category of painting to the Modernist planning regimes of the mid-20th century
The time frame is bookended by Rome and Detroit
cities that lost half of their populations
Why did you focus on regional abandonment rather than on growth and expansion
CW: You only really need something like a landscape urbanism or an ecological urbanism in a context where you have the need for an urban model
Massachusetts; it’s downzoned to zero because the city is not growing
but it will not grow because of its self-identity around a certain configuration
Cambridge doesn’t need an urban design theory
Growth and shrinkage are really two extremes of that economic condition
Places that are changing very drastically by virtue of economic transformations
tend to be sites where landscape urbanism is found more relevant
I have been dealing with this theme for some time in my work
as a way to explain and to situate [German planner and Mies van der Rohe collaborator Ludwig] Hilberseimer and talk about midcentury Modernist planning
SM: I think that’s one of the most valuable aspects of your work
your recuperation of Hilberseimer as a significant player in 20th-century planning
Why do you find him—someone who was reviled for the better part of the last century—such a redeemable figure
CW: Part of what I like about Hilb is that he was a committed socialist—and as such
his social-political credentials are not in question—who argued for a structural relationship between industrial economy and urban form
Not that he proposed the demolition of the traditional urban fabric—his argument was that
the mature economy of the postwar period was doing it already
He was always very clear that his project and his role as a planner were never going to be strong enough to overturn the economic conditions that were structural to the situation that he had to work in
Yet he became the poster child for the failures of Modernism and the whipping boy for attacks on Mies
That was in part because of a misreading of his work
which is to my mind the most successful piece of public urban renewal housing we have
When I say in the book we need to revisit this history of Modernist planning
the idea would be to look back at the era’s most successful examples
At least there was an explicit environmentalist position
SM: But Modernist planning also reflected and concretized the prejudices of its time
Wasn’t that also partly the case at Lafayette Park
CW: It’s a really interesting ethical question
which spearheaded urban renewal that was fundamentally racist
Demolish the housing of 6,000 working-class African Americans— if that were the whole story
It’s that the site then sits empty for four years
by the time Hilberseimer gets a phone call from progressive developer Herbert Greenwald
it’s been years after the demolition and the site has been abandoned
because you can argue it from either direction
and I have done so very effectively with my students
I think Hilb [with Mies van der Rohe and Alfred Caldwell] produced a place that was not just socially and environmentally redemptive
but had an explicitly progressive mixed-race
A part of what I like about that story is that it imbricates a kind of environmental position—he removed the old street grid and turned the property into a lush tabula verde—but also a set of social and political conditions that I find absent today
more canonical landscape practitioners like Ian McHarg
because it seems that given China’s particular political configuration
they seem to still have the aspiration to plan on a great scale
whereas in New York or Chicago or Toronto we work almost exclusively on the scale of the brownfield industrial site
SM: You emphasize landscape urbanism’s critical capacity—it’s part of the reason for your privileging it over other competing flavors of urbanism
such as ecological urbanism or New Urbanism
Have you seen this critical position weaken as landscape urbanist proposals have been increasingly implemented in cities around the world
I view this as really a generational choice that a generation of urbanists have made
These were people who were educated in an era of landscape ecology and planning [in the ’60s and ’70s] and were trained according to a model that assumed the state would be there to decide
But they find themselves working in a very different cultural and political economy
They find themselves working in a place where to work as urbanists—that is
to work to improve cities and their health
and cultural vibrancy—they have to make a choice to urbanize in the way that we urbanize today
For some people a much more ambitious social project belonging to landscape urbanism has been lost
I do think that it’s important to get on with the work of making cities better places
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IAAC Lecture Series 2022/23 – OPENING LECTURECharles WaldheimOctober 13th
“Agricultural Modernization and Collective Memory: 50 Species-Towns”
IAAC runs an international Lecture Series in which architects and experts from a variety of different disciplines present their work at the Institute
consisting of a high-quality cultural activity open to the city of Barcelona
The Opening lecture of the 2022-23 Lecture Series will be held by Charles Waldheim
Irving Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
and introduced by IAAC Director Daniel Ibañez and Academic Director Areti Markopoulou
who will welcome the new class of students to the Institute
in the Main Hall of the Institute at C/ Pujades 102 in Barcelona
This event was submitted by an ArchDaily user. If you'd like to submit an event, please use our "Submit a Event" form
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(AP) - Authorities in Louisiana say a 13-year-old boy is accused of shooting a sheriff’s deputy who was investigating a burglary
Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office says Deputy Kenneth Doby was shot about 3 a.m
after a suspected business burglary was reported there
News agencies report that Doby was shot in the back during a struggle
Sheriff Randy Smith says it looks like Doby is going to have a full recovery
Suzanne Carboni says the boy was arrested on seven charges including attempted first-degree murder
resisting a police officer with force or violence
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The film gradually builds outrage at the subterranean persistence of fascism in postwar politics
secretary general and candidate for the Austrian presidency
he was on the staff of a convicted war criminal and was present for the SS-led deportations of thousands of Jews from the Yugoslav city of Salonika (now Thessaloniki in Greece)
the referent of Waldheim’s “we” is unclear: Does he mean himself and his immediate compatriots
Waldheim is the perfect representative of a nation that in the decades after World War II misleadingly portrayed itself as “Hitler’s first victim.”
In the interviews and speeches presented in the film
Waldheim frequently defends his service during WWII by insisting that
because thousands of other Austrians were in similar positions
Whether or not his alleged participation in war crimes was out of the ordinary for an Austrian officer
the notion that anyone could even behave honorably while waging a genocidal war is the almost laughable absurdity at the core of these repeated and mendacious denials
Waldheim claims that he was merely a dutiful soldier
and that the first he heard of any deportations in Salonika was in the 1980s
Beckermann undercuts these prevarications with snippets of newscasts from the era
which demonstrate that the city square where Salonika’s Jews were herded onto trains is perfectly visible from Waldheim’s former office
The former army captain trips over himself as he dances the rhetorical waltz of the title
inventing new ways of explaining his lack of detailed memory for events that occurred between 1941 and 1943
Beckermann was there in 1986 for the anti-Waldheim protests in the Stephansplatz
Vienna’s central square—and she had a camcorder with her
black-and-white images capture the frontlines of a cultural war between those insisting on remembrance and accountability and an old guard living in denial
The footage reveals the continuities between the Third Reich and Austria’s Second Republic
masked for years by Austria’s myth of victimhood
Viennese police destroy her group’s political signs and bully the protestors
and right-wing Austrians emboldened by Waldheim’s refusal to acknowledge guilt emerge from the crowd with brazen anti-Semitic outbursts
Rather than this firsthand record of the protests
much of The Waldheim Waltz consists of carefully curated archival television footage
with Beckermann’s soft-spoken voiceover giving it a personal
The film introduces us to Waldheim through his hands
which during political speeches he would characteristically extend before him in a semi-circle
“I remember his hands,” Beckermann intones over the footage
grandfatherly gesture she emphasizes here is indeed distinctive but also off-putting
as there’s a gnarled stiffness to Waldheim’s long fingers that feels sinister
to deploy a term famously elaborated upon by a Viennese Jew
One may leave The Waldheim Waltz having expected more specifics about Waldheim’s involvement in war crimes in Yugoslavia and Greece
more conclusive proof than is presented here exists: In 1987
Justice Department detailed Waldheim’s probable involvement in the transfer of civilians to the SS for slave labor
the notoriously brutal reprisals against Yugoslav civilians for attacks on Nazi forces by guerilla partisans
and the deportation of Salonika’s Jewish population to death camps
is focused less on putting Waldheim on trial and more on contemplating his transparent mendacity and its implications for collective remembrance and responsibility—with clear implications for a global society in which the right is once again on the rise
In the ’80s, Beckermann points out, people’s attention turned to the lingering remnants of Nazism when Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah shattered popular presumptions that the horror had been swallowed up by the passage of time
her film is surely also meant as a wake-up call
The Waldheim Waltz gradually builds outrage at the subterranean persistence of fascism in postwar politics
the constantly smiling future president claims of his work under Nazi war criminal Alexander Löhr that “it was a perfectly correct
honest occupation.” It’s enough to make your fist clench in fury
Pat Brown teaches Film Studies and American Studies in Germany
His writing on film and media has appeared in various scholarly journals and critical anthologies
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Check out the TWO new books from MDS
David and Karen Olson pictured second from the right (navy and maroon)
David and Karen Olson can make many claims as volunteers with the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Recreational Vehicle (RV) program in Welsh
Louisiana: They are the only volunteers from Canada at the project and they are the oldest volunteers
and Canadian citizens who live in Waldheim
They have been doing the RV program for three years now; previously
Their home away from home while doing the service is a 30-foot Sunset Trail Reserve trailer
from October through to April with a break at Christmas to go home
helping people impacted by hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020
who ran a daycare and then a jewelry making business
appreciates how the RV program accommodates her health condition
“They are very understanding of how I work slower,” she said of her rheumatoid arthritis
the work she prefers to do is painting and caulking
It’s best to stay busy so my condition doesn’t worsen.”
“I hope to do this for as many years as I am able.”
who is retired from teaching and pastoring at Prairie Bible College in Three Hills
Alberta and as pastor of the Waldheim Mennonite Brethren Church
“Helping people is what we do and who we are,” he said
adding this is a way to “live out our faith.”
It gives them both joy when they see someone move into their repaired home
They also like being part of the volunteer team
“It’s good to get to know new people and become friends,” Karen said
“I think we get closer to them than to people we’ve known for years because of how much time we spend together,” added David
the couple rests and goes exploring around the area with other volunteers
adding “it’s good to be able to go back to our own space every evening.”
doing MDS service is also a way of practicing what he preached
“For years I told people who were retiring to find something to do with their time,” he said
Getting away from snow and cold is also a benefit
“There’s no reason to freeze at home when people can come down to Louisiana and enjoy the balmy warm weather,” Karen said
One thing David likes about MDS is how it provides all the tools volunteers need to do their jobs
“Other organizations ask you to bring your own tools,” he said
I only bring down the few tools I like to use
even though they are older they still like to be busy
“It’s always something at the end of the day to look around and say ‘wow
The Olsons intend to keep doing the MDS RV program as long as they can
We want to do as much as we can for as long as we can for as many as we can.”
The MDS RV program is designed for older adults who want to serve in the southern U.S
More laid-back in nature than traditional projects
For more information about the MDS RV program, visit https://mdsorg.wpenginepowered.com/rv-volunteer
Click here to view “Faces of MDS RV program in Louisiana”
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Here’s a question Jay Leno forgot to ask Arnold Schwarzenegger when he announced his candidacy for governor of California on last night’s Tonight Show: “Will you renounce your support for Kurt Waldheim?”
My friends don’t want me to mention Kurt’s name
because of all the recent Nazi stuff and the U.N
Schwarzenegger’s name remained on Waldheim’s campaign posters
Schwarzenegger paid him a visit and was photographed with him
According to the New York Post’s “Page Six” gossip column
Schwarzenegger was seen sitting beside Waldheim as recently as 1998
when the two attended the second inauguration of Waldheim’s successor as president
Schwarzenegger was asked in a Playboy interview what he thought of Waldheim
I can say that being half-Austrian and half-American
I don’t like the idea that these two countries that mean so much to me are in such a disagreement
Austria is a very important place for Americans
Why on Earth didn’t Schwarzenegger take this opportunity to speak out against Waldheim
It surely isn’t because Schwarzenegger himself had any Nazi sympathies (though during the filming of the documentary Pumping Iron
he reportedly once made a foolish comment praising Hitler)
Schwarzenegger was likely playing politics—to be more specific
For years it was rumored that if Schwarzenegger didn’t run for governor of California
Because Austrians have long resented what they see as Waldheim’s pointless scapegoating
any firm denunciation would have ruled the latter possibility out
Schwarzenegger’s mother had for many years lived with Alfred Gerstl
a prominent Austrian politician who rose to the top post in the upper house of Austria’s parliament
Schwarzenegger reportedly addressed him as “Uncle.” (Schwarzenegger’s father
was a police official who had belonged to the Nazi party.)
“He probably did not have any clue as to the seriousness of the allegations against Waldheim at that time [i.e.
To suggest that Arnold’s an anti-Semite is preposterous
He’s done more to further the cause of Holocaust awareness than almost any other Hollywood star.”
If Schwarzenegger doesn’t renounce Waldheim in a highly public way
he can forget about ever becoming governor of California
Correction, Aug. 11, 2003:An earlier version of this piece stated incorrectly that Schwarzenegger and Shriver “exchanged wedding vows” at the Kennedy compound. In fact, they exchanged vows at a nearby church, then held their wedding reception at the Kennedy compound, where the scene described above took place. (Return to the corrected sentence.)