MI6 chief appointment sparks debate over Nazi family ties
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Metreweli, who was recently installed as the first female director of MI6 in the agency's history, descends from Constantine Dobrowolski, a Ukrainian traitor who defected from the Red Army and joined the ranks of Hitler's intelligence operations in Soviet Ukraine.
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Blaise Metreweli's grandfather was Constantine Dobrowolski, a Nazi collaborator. (The Telegraph)
British media outlets revealed Friday that the future head of the UK's foreign intelligence service, Blaise Metreweli, is the granddaughter of a known Nazi collaborator responsible for war crimes on Soviet soil during World War II.
Metreweli, who will become the first female director of MI6 in the agency's history, descends from Constantine Dobrowolski, a Ukrainian traitor who defected from the Red Army and joined the ranks of Hitler's intelligence operations in Soviet Ukraine.
According to British reports, Dobrowolski was a key asset to the German occupiers and bore the codename "Agent No 30." He was reportedly known among Nazi ranks as "The Butcher" for his participation in the extermination of Jews and mass executions of Soviet citizens, including Ukrainians loyal to the USSR.
Documents uncovered from German archives include a letter where Dobrowolski pledges allegiance to the Nazi regime with the words "Heil Hitler," and another where he brags of "personally" engaging "in the extermination of the Jews."
When the Red Army advanced to liberate Ukrainian lands in 1943, Dobrowolski's family fled west, while he remained to wage guerrilla war against the army. His whereabouts after that were unknown. At the time, Soviet authorities placed a bounty of 50,000 roubles on him and denounced him as "the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people."
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According to The Telegraph, a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office issued the following statement, "Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather. Blaise's ancestry is characterised by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood."
"It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today's hostile states, as the next chief of MI6," the spokesperson said.
Metreweli's career in British intelligence began in 1999 after she studied anthropology at Cambridge and took part in the university's Boat Race. She has held positions across Europe and the Middle East, and currently heads MI6's technical department, under the alias of "Q."
