Editing Kurt Waldheim (section)

==Early life and education==
Waldheim was born in [[Sankt Andrä-Wördern]], near [[Vienna]], on 21 December 1918.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |title=Former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim dies at 88 |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/871159.html |url-status=dead |work=Haaretz |date=14 June 2007 |access-date=14 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524141341/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/871159.html |archive-date=24 May 2008}}</ref> He was the eldest child of Walter Watzlawik, a schoolmaster of [[Czechs|Czech]] origin,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071102154220/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F06%2F15%2Fdb1501.xml Kurt Waldheim], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 15 June 2007.</ref> and his wife Josefine Petrasch.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|p=27}} Watzlawik (original [[Czech language|Czech]] spelling Václavík) changed his name to "Waldheim" that year as the [[Austria-Hungary|Habsburg monarchy]] collapsed and eventually rose to become superintendent of schools for the [[Tulln District]], attaining the rank of ''Regierungsrat'' (government councillor). Active in the [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social Party]], he was well regarded as a devoutly Catholic family man.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|pp=35–36}} Waldheim and his two younger siblings, a brother, Walther, and a sister, Gerlinde, enjoyed a comfortable middle-class upbringing. From his youth, Waldheim was distinguished by his unusual height of {{Infobox person/height|1.92 metres}}. As a ''[[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]]'' student in [[Klosterneuburg]], he excelled at languages and was a competent violinist in the school orchestra, also enjoying swimming, boating and tennis.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|pp=35–37}}

Although his father wanted him to study medicine, Waldheim had an aversion to the sight of blood, and had already decided to enter the foreign service.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|pp=35–36}} In March 1936, the [[Schuschnigg]] government passed a law mandating a period of military service for prospective civil servants. Consequently, following his graduation Waldheim volunteered for a 12-month term of enlistment in the [[Austrian Armed Forces|Austrian Army]], and was posted to the 1st Dragoon Regiment on his 18th birthday.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|pp=44–45}} In the autumn of 1937, now an army reservist, Waldheim entered the prestigious Consular Academy in Vienna on a scholarship, where he began his studies in law and diplomacy. Along with his family, Waldheim opposed the [[Anschluss|German annexation of Austria]] in 1938, and while actively campaigning against it in Vienna was attacked and injured by Austrian Nazis.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|pp=50–52}} Following the annexation, Waldheim's father was briefly arrested by the Gestapo and dismissed from his post, while Waldheim's scholarship was cancelled. He managed to continue his studies by working as a Latin and Greek tutor and borrowing funds from relatives.{{sfn|Herzstein|1988|pp=54–55}}

Waldheim applied for membership in the [[National Socialist German Students' League]] (NSDStB), a division of the [[Nazi Party]].<ref>Report of the International Historical Commission of 8 February 1988, section on "Membership in National Socialist Organizations", as cited, e.g., in [http://nationalsozialismus.at/Themen/Umgang/waldheim.htm Waldheim Affäre] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225120601/http://nationalsozialismus.at/Themen/Umgang/waldheim.htm |date=25 February 2007}}. nationalsozialismus.at</ref> Shortly thereafter he became a member of the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA), the Nazi Party's original paramilitary wing.

On 19 August 1944, he married [[Elisabeth Waldheim|Elisabeth Ritschel]] in Vienna; their first daughter, Lieselotte, was born the following year. A son, Gerhard, and another daughter, Christa, followed.