We have collected declassified CIA files and diplomatic cables and have also submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in our research of the Hāzners case and the role of propaganda in U.S. authorities' mistaken pursuit of Hāzners as a war criminal.
Our research would have been impossible without the Internet. The "web" we collectively weave, however, is a two-edged sword. The case of Vilis Hāzners proves the winning narrative is the one which is repeated the most, not the one that is factual.
Even someone who attended Hāzners's hearings, Rabbi Paul Silton, makes the accusation Hāzners got off on a technicality knowing full well that the evidence against Hāzners was ultimately not credible. Issues with witness testimony included:
- claimed to have seen Hāzners when he was proven to be elsewhere,
- claimed he was wearing the wrong rank,
- claimed he had the wrong physical build,
- claimed he was much taller,
- claimed he had hair — taken prisoner several days before the Nazi invasion, Hāzners's head had been shaven,
- did not recognized each other although purportedly witnessing similar incidents at the ghetto gate,
- did not know of Hāzners before-hand, and had only heard his name from the Israeli investigator.
The INS knew their case was built on sand, since they did not even mention they had Hāzners's military records in their possession. We can only conclude that record exonerated Hāzners because the INS also refused to share this evidence with Hāzners's defense counsel.
Yet Hāzners is still, somehow, an escapee from justice. How and where does one even start to set the record straight?
We can start by examining the rise and propaganda-induced fall of Hāzners's relationship with the CIA and later INS witch hunt.