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:
- claiming to have seen Hāzners when he was proven to be elsewhere,
- claiming he was wearing the wrong rank,
- claiming he had the wrong physical build,
- claiming he was much taller,
- claiming he had hair — taken prisoner several days before the Nazi invasion, Hāzners's head had been shaven,
- did not recognize each other although they purportedly witnessed similar incidents at the same ghetto gate,
- did not know of Hāzners before-hand and learned his name from the Israeli investigator, including seeing his name written on his photo — and Hāzners described as a known Holocaust perpetrator.
The INS did not mention they had Hāzners's military records in their possession. Or that German authorities had already investigated and found no evidence of wrongdoing. The INS also refused to release Hāzners's military records to his defense counsel — a tacit admission they exonerated Hāzners. Yet Hāzners is still, somehow, an escapee from justice.
How and where does one start to set the record straight?
We start by examining the document trail cataloging the rise and propaganda-induced fall of Hāzners's relationship with the CIA and later launch of the INS witch hunt.