The bars could have been bent that way courtesy of a vehicle reversing into the bike. This would apply the required force without causing damage to the other parts. Alternatively, the bike could have been crashed for the STI levers and tape to somehow get off lightly.
Bending them back into shape is definitely a consideration. You need to apply an equal an opposite force to what they once received, however, in reality you will struggle to bend them back 'exactly right'.
If this was my own bike then I would put the bars in the vice and pull them back - taking care to put something soft in the vice to not have 'teeth marks' on the bar tape. I wouldn't even bother taking the bars out of the stem, in that way the bike can be used for leverage. I would spend no more than ten minutes giving it a go, and I would hope to get lucky.
If I did not have a vice (or the 'fix' did not work) then I would use a big wooden stick to apply the necessary leverage. If that did not work out then I would just get new bars and tape.
Steel handlebars are hard to find, given the ch-mo frame I doubt the bars are carbon fibre rather than steel.
There is this thing called 'metal fatigue' that limits how far and how often you can bend aluminium before it breaks. There is also 'yield strength' and 'ultimate strength'. In straightening these bars out you will be working well below the limits and it is unlikely the bars will 'snap off'. Surface scratches to aluminium bars are a bigger danger to them than a 'little bit of bending', and if you really want to see the bars fail quickly, just drill a very small hole in them near the stem...!
I have actually had aluminium handlebars fail (yes I was an idiot and drilled a small hole in them, but I was 15 at the time) and that happened down a big hill. The failure was not actually completely sudden and I did not crash. I have also straightened out a lot of bikes with unorthodox means in my time and believe it is worth a go, even if the bike is not one's own.
To check the track of the bike you can wrap string around the headtube and each side of the rear axle. The downtube should be in the middle, not to one side.