Kurt Josef Waldheim (1918-2007) was an Austrian politician, diplomat, lawyer, former military officer, and author who served as the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and as President of Austria from 1986 to 1992. Born on December 21, 1918, in Sankt Andrä-Wördern near Vienna, Austria, to a father of Czech ethnic origin who changed the family name from Waclawik to Waldheim, he volunteered for the Austrian army in 1936-1937 before being conscripted into the German Wehrmacht during World War II. He served on the Russian front until wounded in 1941, after which he was posted to the Balkans (Greece and Yugoslavia) as an intelligence officer in the 12th Army, where documents later revealed his knowledge of Nazi atrocities, including deportations and reprisal actions against civilians and partisans. Accused of concealing his Nazi military service and complicity in war crimes (though never charged), he was labeled a war criminal by the U.S., banned from entry in 1987, and placed on a UN watchlist until 1994. After the war, Waldheim pursued a diplomatic career, graduating from the Vienna Consular Academy (now the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna) and entering Austrian foreign service. He rose through UN ranks, becoming Secretary-General amid controversies like the 1972 telegram from Idi Amin praising him. His 1986 presidential campaign was derailed by revelations from the World Jewish Congress about his concealed wartime service, a campaign led by its president, Edgar Bronfman, and executive director, Elan Steinberg, though often associated with the efforts of World Jewish Congress official Israel Singer, who played a key role in exposing Waldheim's Nazi past; despite domestic support, his presidency isolated Austria internationally. Waldheim died on June 14, 2007, in Vienna, aged 88, from heart failure. His legacy remains tainted by the Waldheim Affair, symbolizing Austria's post-war reckoning with Nazi pasts, with critics condemning him for lying about his Wehrmacht role and proximity to atrocities.