UK Foreign Office comments on incoming MI6 chief’s Nazi family links
A spokesperson has claimed that Blaise Metreweli’s “complex heritage” makes her a good fit to lead the spy agency
MI6 headquarters in London. © Jan Woitas / picture alliance / Getty Images
The UK Foreign Office has defended Blaise Metreweli, the first woman appointed to lead the MI6 foreign intelligence agency, after media reports revealed that her grandfather fought for Nazi Germany.
The ministry claims that Metreweli’s controversial family background has only strengthened her resolve to protect the country from external threats.
On Thursday, the Daily Mail published a report revealing for the first time that Metreweli, who is set to become MI6 director in October, is the granddaughter of Constantine Dobrowolski – a Red Army defector who joined Hitler’s forces and was nicknamed ‘the Butcher’ for atrocities committed in Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
A representative of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in turn, said in a statement on Friday: “Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather. Blaise’s ancestry is characterized by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with Eastern European heritage, is only partially understood.”
Incoming MI6 boss’ grandfather was Ukrainian Nazi ‘Butcher’ – UK media
“It is precisely this complex heritage that has contributed to her commitment to preventing conflict and protecting the British public from modern threats posed by today’s hostile states, as the next chief of MI6,” the statement continued.
According to the Daily Mail, Dobrowolski served in an SS tank unit and later joined the Nazi military police, which took part in the mass murder of Jews, partisans, and political prisoners.
Dobrowolski is believed to have been killed in 1943. His widow later moved to the UK, where she married Georgian-born David Metreweli.