Only allegations count, not the truth | Holtzman's crusade
We find the last mention of Hāzners, and last parroting, via a footnote:
[footnote] ... See also Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, “Alleged Nazi War Criminals in America,” Congressional Record, December 3, 1980, no. 169, pt. II (concerning Soobzokov, Hazners).
The Congressional Record Simpson cites regarding Hāzners is largely Holtzman's personal exposition on her crusade to root out the post-war Nazi infestation. Regarding Hāzners:
"1Several of the alleged Nazis had contacts with the CIA. ... Vilis Hazners of Albany, N.Y.. worked for Radio Liberty which for many years was funded by the CIA. ... It is 2interesting to note that the General Accounting Office conducted an inquiry into the matter and 3issued a report in May 1978 confirming the astounding truth—that more than 20 Nazi war criminals had been hired by the U.S. Government agencies, including the FBI, CIA, State Department, and Department of Defense."
Holtzman ignores that Hāzners had already been exonerated, awaiting only whether the OSI would be granted an appeal. But for both Simpson and Holtzman, that the government failed to prove its case is superfluous. As Holtzman herself had declared, "All Latvians are Nazis."1 All that matters is the allegation.
Holtzman is not above entering innuendo into the Congressional Record, questioning, how deep does U.S. collusion with Nazi war criminals go? The CIA had been alleged to have engaged hundreds of known Nazis.
Holtzman ignores that the "more than 20" identified in the GAO inquiry included the innocent, such as Hāzners, alleged to have Nazi ties. The conspiracy would be far less "astounding" if, instead of the 100's alleged, or the more than twenty alleged confirmed by the GAO, Holtzman admitted to the simple fact that the GAO uncovered only ONE individual with known Nazi ties whom the CIA had engaged.
The same Congressional Record Simpson cites also includes the status of Hāzners's case at the time, our emphasis:
A Justice Department summary of all Nazi war criminal cases now in litigation follows:
[Office of Special Investigations, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice]
DIGEST OF CASES IN LITIGATION
November 26, 1980
DENATURALIZATION CASES
. . .17. Hazners, Vilis
Case pending: Board of Immigration Appeals, File No. A10 305 336.
Date filed Defendant was served with an Order to Show Cause on January 28, 1977.
Date and place of birth: July 23, 1905, Latvia.
Entry date: August 23. 1956, under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, as amended.
Immigration status: Permanent resident.
Summary of allegation: As an officer in the Latvian Self Defense Gorup [sic.] and later the Schutzmannschaft2, a police organization under German supervision and control, defendant directed and participated in the arrests and beatings of Jews, and in their internment In ghettos of Riga, Latvia.
Progress to date: Deportation hearings commenced on October 25, 1977, and continued on various dates until their conclusion on May 18, 1979. On February 27. 1980, the Immigration Judge terminated the proceedings, concluding that the government's evidence was insufficient to prove defendant's deportabillty. The Government appealed this decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals on March 5, 1980, and oral argument before the Board was held on September 4, 1980.
The parties are currently awaiting a decision by the BIA in this case.3
We remind the reader that all that was necessary to deport Hāzners was to show that he made misrepresentations on his application to enter the United States, requiring no more than hearsay deemed to be credible as "evidence." The bar of "proof" is much lower in deportation—administrative—proceedings, where the accused has no right to representation, than in a court of law.
| 1 | Quoted, per eyewitness account of spontaneous news interview. |
| 2 | Hāzners served in the Selbstschutz, not Schuzmannshaft, which included units of Latvians which collaborated in the Holocaust. This mistranslation of German sources was the least of factual inaccuracies and outright lies in the government's case. |
| 3 | Alan Ryan's motion to appeal was on the basis that Hāzners had served in the Waffen-SS and been awarded the Iron Cross for bravery, signed by Hitler. Allan's motion was denied. |