Special Interview Chief U.S. War Crimes Prosecutor Sees Need for More, Better Witnesses

Martin Mendelsohn, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service’s chief war crimes prosecutor, said here that there is a need for more and better witnesses to Nazi war crimes, and that he believes such witnesses are living in the United States today. “There is a sufficient number of survivor organizations here to ferret out these witnesses,” he said, “and we shouldn’t have to seek our witnesses from Israel and other countries.”

Mendelsohn spoke with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency while in Albany to present the government’s case at the deportation hearing of alleged Nazi war criminal Vilis A. Hazners. He took charge of a special unit set up by the Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) in October to work exclusively on hearings concerning alleged Nazi war criminals. He heads a staff of five fulltime lawyers, and says that he expects to have 20 hearings underway by the end of this year.

169 INVESTIGATIONS IN PROGRESS

The INS currently has 169 investigations in progress, according to Mendelsohn, but not all of the alleged war criminals are still living. He claims that he stepped into the Albany hearing at this point because the original government attorney assigned to the case, Ralph Smith, became ill and his replacement, William Strasser, “is uncomfortable in the spotlight.” Mendelsohn wouldn’t comment on complaints by the press and Albany residents that Strasser’s handling of the case was less than competent.

Appearing as a witness this week is Mrs. Maria Radiwker, a 72-year-old police investigator from Israel who interviewed the Israeli witnesses testifying at this hearing last November. Her department is responsible for seeking out witnesses in Israel, at the request of INS.

Hazners is a native of Latvia who served as a military and police official for the German Nazis during World War II. He is accused by INS of having entered the United States illegally in 1956, by failing to declare his involvement in atrocities against Latvian Jews. If he had admitted these alleged atrocities, he would not have been eligible for admission to the United States. he is presently a permanent resident alien and has never applied for U.S. citizenship.

Asked what American Jewish communities and organizations can do to assist in bringing alleged Nazi war criminals to justice, Mendelsohn stressed the importance of having attorneys monitor hearings. “This lets the witnesses know that they have support,” he said, “and it also makes the judges aware that they are being observed by competent professionals who will bear witness to any errors. This is an important and significant role that American Jews can play at the hearings.”

DEMONSTRATIONS ARE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE

Mendelsohn does not believe, however, that picketing and demonstrations are positive approaches. “We have chosen, in this society, to deal with disputes through the law,” he said, “and I think that this approach should be allowed to go forward.”

He mentioned that there were demonstrations by such groups as the Jewish Defense League at the hearing of another alleged Nazi war criminal, Karlis Detlavs, in Baltimore. These demonstrations received a great deal of publicity on television, he explained, but were not beneficial to the case.

Mendelsohn is determined to prove that Hazners should be deported, but, whatever the outcome of the case, he believes that the hearing has already served a two-fold purpose. “First of all,” he said, “the media coverage has given residents of the Albany area, and Americans in general, an education about Nazi war criminals.”

Even local public schools have sent students to observe the hearing, in connection with social studies and literature courses. “In addition, Hazners is no longer the secure and happy man that he was five years ago. Now he’s worried about being deported,” Mendelsohn said, “and this in itself is an accomplishment.”