Former Spy Who Saved Thousands Of Jews Is Honoured

A statue to commemorate the bravery of a former MI6 officer who helped thousands of Jews escape Nazi Germany has been unveiled by the Duke of Cambridge.

Frank Foley is believed to have saved around 10,000 Jews by issuing them with passports while working undercover in Berlin.

Major Foley served in the Intelligence Corps during the First World War.

In the years leading up to the Second World War he ran the Berlin station of MI6.

Under cover as a passport control officer he helped thousands of Jews escape from Nazi Germany by bending and breaking the rules to issue visas needed by Jewish people to get to the UK or British-controlled Palestine.

The statue by artist Andy de Comyn sits in Mary Stevens Park, in the West Midlands town of Stourbridge, where the veteran intelligence officer, who served in both World Wars chose to retire.

Before the ceremony Prince William met members of Foley’s family, as well as people who were saved by Foley and their descendants.

Foley is ranked alongside Oskar Schindler, who was immortalised in the movie 'Schindler's List' and  was officially recognised as a British Hero of the Holocaust. 

In January Frank Foley received a rare of public acknowledgment of his work as a spy from the head of the Secret Intelligence Service.

MI6 boss Alex Younger said that normally “our successes are private, our failures public,” but added: “It is a wonderful thing for MI6 that one of its most distinguished members’ successes are no longer private.”