Former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim hospitalized

Former President Kurt Waldheim was hospitalized and recovering from a fever-causing infection.

Photo: Former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim hospitalized

Waldheim, 88, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Vienna's General Hospital on Monday, but his improved condition means he could be moved to a normal ward as early as later Tuesday, the hospital said in a statement.

U.N. secretary general from 1972 to 1982, Waldheim was also was elected president of Austria in 1986 despite an international scandal triggered by revelations that he belonged to a German army unit that committed atrocities in the Balkans during World War II.

While Waldheim himself was not implicated in wrongdoing, his initial denial of such service and then assertions that he and fellow Austrians were only doing their duty led to international censure and a decision by Washington to place him on a "watch list" of persons prohibited from visiting the U.S. a ban that continues to stand today.