Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews [Paperback]

The terrible tale of the Holocaust is mitigated in some tiny part by a few stories of grace and heroism; of these moments of reprieve, the story of Oscar Schindler is perhaps the best known. The inaction of foreign bureaucracies scared of offending Germany and precipitating conflict is well-known; less famous are the details of how many German Jews were procured exit visas and did survive.

Frank Foley was the British passport officer in Berlin, and would have none of the nonsense of his superiors; he endlessly bent the rules and found pretexts for getting people out. This was all the more remarkable because he was also running a major intelligence operation, acquiring details of most of Germany's military research and development that were eventually crucial to Allied victory. The double bluff whereby he concealed his spying operations through known and active hostility to the regime was both ingenious and let him do what he was morally drawn to. Foley also had a crucial role in frustrating various schemes of the Stalinist Comintern, acquiring double agents who, for example, prevented a pro-Russian coup in Brazil. Foley-The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews is a fascinating story, efficiently rather than memorably told.--Roz Kavaney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Gripping. An oustanding book. The last word on the Final Solution.'

'One of the great heroic figures of the Holocaust period, equal at least to Oskar Schindler'. Jerusalem Post 'Gripping. An oustanding book. The last word on the Final Solution.' -- Mail on Sunday 'Diligently researched. A deserved tribute to a compassionate Christian'. Sunday Times 'Crisp and informative. Very effectively conveys the atmosphere of cumulative danger experienced by Jews in Germany under the Nazis' -- The Times 'A fascinating book. Smith writes well; coolly and unexaggeratedly, sensibly and authoritatively' -- The Daily Telegraph 'Rarely has the Jewish accolade for outstanding courage by a gentile in their cause been more deserved. Michael Smith has made no errors in bringing a long-neglected hero out of the shadows'. Independent on Sunday

'A fascinating book. Smith writes well; coolly and unexaggeratedly, sensibly and authoritatively'

'Crisp and informative. Very effectively conveys the atmosphere of cumulative danger experienced by Jews in Germany under the Nazis'

'One of the great heroic figures of the Holocaust period, equal at least to Oskar Schindler'.
Jerusalem Post

Frank Foley worked as Passport Control Officer in Berlin during the war and helped thousands of Jews to escape from Germany. At the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann he was described as a 'Scarlet Pimpernel', risking his own life to save Jews threatened with death by the Nazis. In fact, his post at the Passport Office was a front for his real role as MI6 head of station. Despite having no diplomatic immunity and being liable to arrest at any time, he went into the concentration camps to get Jews out, he hid them in his home and helped them to get forged passports. One Jewish aid worker estimated that he saved 'tens of thousands' of people from the Holocaust. Michael Smith has researched and vividly written one of the greatest unknown heroic stories of the Second World War.

The extraordinary story of ¿the British Schindler¿.
Frank Foley worked as Passport Control Officer in Berlin during the war and helped thousands of Jews to escape from Germany. At the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann he was described as a ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’, risking his own life to save Jews threatened with death by the Nazis. In fact, his post at the Passport Office was a front for his real role as MI6 head of station. Despite having no diplomatic immunity and being liable to arrest at any time, he went into the concentration camps to get Jews out, he hid them in his home and helped them to get forged passports. One Jewish aid worker estimated that he saved ‘tens of thousands’ of people from the Holocaust.

Michael Smith has researched and vividly written one of the greatest unknown heroic stories of the Second World War.

Just as we published this remarkable book in Hardback in January 1999, the RIGHTEOUS AMONG NATIONS accolade was bestowed upon Frank Foley by Yad Vasham - Israel's Holocaust Memorial Centre

The evidence collected for the book by Michael Smith proved conclusive enough for the award, also held by Oskar Schindler. now this new edition is made more accessible for those interested in reading Michael Smith's astonishing story of selfless heroism. Sales of the hardback put the book on the edge of the Sunday Times Top Ten non-fiction bestsellers, and soon afterwards the special edition tpk sold out [5k copies].

After the award had been announced, Michael Smith, author of FOLEY: THE SPY WHO SAVED l0,000 JEWS, called Frank Foley 'a true British hero who worked not just for his country, but also for justice and the good of humanity. He has saved tens of thousands of lives. No-one could have deserved this award more.'

FOLEY tells for the first time the story of Frank Foley's heroism and humanity. He was a spy-a fact that made his efforts on behalf of the Jews even more dangerous. His role as head of the British passport control office in Berlin was cover for his real role as MI6 Head of Station in the German capital. In this position he had no diplomatic immunity and was liable to arrest at any time, but for years he ignored all the rules to help Jews to leave the country.

This is one of the greatest untold stories of heroism and humanity from the second world war recounted for the first time. When the Nazis came to power in the early l930s, it was clear that they were intent on obliterating all signs of Jewish influence from Germany and that tens of thousands of Jews would suffer horribly at the hands of Hitler's acolytes. For many of Germany's beleaguered Jews, Frank Foley, a quiet, unobtrusive and determined Englishman was to become their saviour.

He was not only a brave and humane man, he was also one of the most brilliant intelligence officers ever to serve in MI6, and deserves recognition as such. It was through his flair for recruiting agents that the allies obtained details of Hitler's secret rocket programme and the progress of its atomic research. He was also the MI6 officer on the Double Cross Committee, masterminding the recruitment of German spies across the world to work as double agents for the British. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Michael Smith is a senior reporter with the Daily Telegraph. He served with the British Army's Intelligence Corps before leaving to join the BBC. He lives near Henley with his wife and family.