The United Kingdom (UK) Secret Intelligence Service MI6 has tried to distance its new chief, Blaise Metreweli, from her grandfather, who was a Nazi spy known as the “Butcher.”
Metreweli was announced earlier this month as the new head of MI6, one of the world’s top intelligence agencies. She will be the first female “C” in its 116-year history.
Little is known about her wider background, but several newspapers reported on Friday that her grandfather was Konstantin Dobrowolski, who defected from the Red Army of Soviet Russia and became the main Nazi informant in Chernihiv, Ukraine.
However, the UK’s Foreign Office, which speaks on behalf of MI6, said that Metreweli “did not know nor ever met her paternal grandfather.”
“Blaise’s background is marked by conflicts and divisions, and, as is the case with many with Eastern European heritage, it is only partially understood,” said a spokesperson for the Foreign Office.
“It is precisely this complex heritage that contributed to her dedication to preventing conflict and protecting the UK public from modern threats posed by today’s hostile states, as the next head of MI6,” he added.
UK media outlets, which first revealed the family connection, reported that they found hundreds of pages of documents in an archive in Freiburg, Germany, showing that Dobrowolski was known as the ‘Butcher’ or ‘Agent number 30’ by the Wehrmacht commander.
Reportedly, he signed letters to his Nazi superiors with “Heil Hitler” and stated that he had “personally” participated in the “extermination of Jews.”
It is said that archival documents suggest Dobrowolski looted the bodies of Holocaust victims, was involved in the murder of local Jews, and laughed while watching the sexual abuse of female prisoners.
After the war, Dobrowolski’s wife, Barbara, fled with their two-month-old son to the UK and married David Metreweli in 1947. Her son took his stepfather’s surname, but UK media reported that on some official documents, his surname was still Dobrowolski.
The “Butcher’s” son later became a radiologist and a veteran of the UK armed forces, and his daughter, Blaise Metreweli, was born in 1977. She has not yet commented on the recent reports by UK media.
Otherwise, Blaise Metreweli joined MI6 in 1999 and is currently responsible for technology and innovation there. She will become the 18th head of the agency when she takes over from Richard Moore, a senior civil servant, later this year.
Upon her appointment, she stated that she was “proud and honored.”
Metreweli graduated from Cambridge, is a rower, and previously held operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.
