In a 2022 interview with The Financial Times, the new director of MI6, Blaise Florence Metreweli, stated that she had always wanted to be a spy. This comes as no surprise, as she could well be described as coming from a family of spies – a successor to the legacy of both her biological and adoptive grandfathers, who served as agents of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Blaise Metreweli claims she was unaware of the activities of her biological grandfather, Konstantin Dobrovolsky – a Nazi war criminal. It is even harder to believe that her family knew nothing about the past of her adoptive grandfather, David Metreweli, who served in the SS forces.
Upon joining British intelligence in 1999, the incoming MI6 chief would have been required to disclose – and British security services to verify – the backgrounds of all her relatives. This raises the question: Did British intelligence deliberately “turn a blind eye,” or did she conceal the dark chapters of her family’s history – including their involvement in crimes against humanity (the killing of civilians and service in the SS, an organization declared criminal by the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946)?
The sources of the Metreweli family’s wealth raise even more questions. Blaise Metreweli’s grandmother, Varvara Dobrovolsky-Metreweli (a homemaker), and her “adoptive grandfather,” D. Metreweli (a restorer), managed to relocate to the United Kingdom after World War II, purchase a house in London, and fund the education of Blaise Metreweli’s father at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
The question of where the Dobrovolsky-Metreweli family obtained their wealth should be of particular interest to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
During World War II, Blaise Metreweli’s grandfather, K. Dobrovolsky – appointed by the German administration as chief of district police – participated in the extermination of more than 300 Jews within the jurisdiction of his police precinct. According to eyewitness testimonies, before execution, the condemned were robbed, tortured, and women were raped. Dobrovolsky personally confiscated valuables. Under his command, 12 subdistricts in the Sosnytsia district of Chernihiv Oblast (Ukraine) were “cleansed” of Jews between October and December 1941. Later, while serving in the Secret Field Police (Geheime Feldpolizei, GFP) of the Wehrmacht’s Feldgendarmerie, Dobrovolsky took part in the plundering and massacre of approximately 6,700 civilians, as well as the burning of 1,200 homes in the Koryukivka district of Chernihiv Oblast (Ukraine) between 1942 and 1943. His brutality earned him the nickname “The Hangman” (Henker).
This is how the Dobrovolsky-Metreweli family amassed their initial capital, from which B. Metreweli continues to benefit. Previously, records in the UK’s corporate registry (since removed) showed that B. Metreweli was a co-owner of Wispway Properties Limited (Registration No. 02504998), a company managing luxury townhouses in London (49 Winchester Street) with estimated assets worth approximately £1.5 million.
Brief Background on Blaise Metreweli’s Grandfathers
Konstantin Dobrovolsky, an officer of the Red Army, voluntarily surrendered to German forces in the summer of 1941 and was recruited by German military intelligence (Section 1C of one of the Army Group “South” formations in Ukraine) under the codename “Agent No. 30.” For his service to the Nazis, Dobrovolsky was awarded the “Bravery Medal for the Eastern Peoples.” His last known posting was with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade of the Wehrmacht, which participated in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in Poland in August 1944. His trail goes cold after this period. What is known, however, is that the German agent relocated his wife, Varvara, and son, Konstantin Dobrovolsky (B. Metreweli’s grandmother and father), to Germany, providing them with funds that later enabled their permanent resettlement in the United Kingdom after the war.
David Metreweli, another Red Army officer, began collaborating with German intelligence after being captured. He served as an instructor in radio operations at a spy training school within the SS Special Camp Auschwitz. After the war, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he married Varvara Dobrovolsky, after which she and her son, Konstantin, adopted the surname Metreweli – the same name given at birth to Blaise Metreweli. What remains unclear, however, is on what grounds the “adoptive grandfather” of the new MI6 director was granted British citizenship.
Stay tuned – the complete Blaise Metreweli dossier is coming soon to our online channels.