Fred Sinowatz - Waldheim Affair

Waldheim Affair

Before the 1986 Austrian Presidential Elections, during a meeting of the steering committee of the Burgenland SPÖ, according to a later rendering by Ottilie Matysek, Sinowatz insinuated that one would have to point out to the Austrians that the Austrian People's Party's candidate, Kurt Waldheim, had a "brown" (i.e. Nazi) past. By an indiscretion, this remark was passed on to the weekly magazine profil, which started to investigate the matter. This triggered the Waldheim debate.

During the presidential campaign, Sinowatz strongly opposed Waldheim. When Waldheim gave assurances that he had not been a member of the Sturmabteilung Equestrian Corps, but had only joined its members in riding occasionally, Sinowatz countered: "I find that Kurt Waldheim never was a member of the SA, but only his horse."

After Waldheim's election, Sinowatz resigned and passed on his post as chancellor to finance minister Franz Vranitzky, who also succeeded him as chairman of the SPÖ in 1988; at the same time, Sinowatz also resigned as a member of the National Council of Austria.

Sinowatz sued Ottilie Matysek (who had by then left the SPÖ) for libel because of her statement concerning Waldheim's past. Even though all top representatives of the Burgenland SPÖ (including governor Johann Sipötz) gave testimony in his favor when he denied the accuracy of Matysek's depiction of the events, the court gave more weight to the authenticity of some hand-written notes and dismissed the suit. This also led to Sipötz's resignation.