Ottawa family donates Holocaust hero's medals to Britain

By all accounts, Frank Foley wasn't one to broadcast his accomplishments.

So perhaps it's fitting that the awards he was given for his service as a British spy have been lying low for decades.

A fluent German speaker, Frank Foley was assignedto gather information about what was happening in Germany a job which became especially crucial after the Nazis took power in 1933.

But he also helped Jews flee the country, and that's the story his family in Ottawahopes to spreadbydonatinghismedals to the U.K. government.

Exploited passport officer job to help Jews

Michael Foley grew up with the medals from his dad's great-unclein the house, but knew few details of Frank Foley's accomplishments as an agent posted to Britain'sembassy in Berlin in the1930s.

"[My dad] talked aboutmeeting him, and he said he was quite reserved and rather quiet," he toldCBCRadio'sOttawa Morning last week.

"We joked about the fact that I guess if you're a spy, that's a good thing."

The cover for Frank Foley's clandestine activities in Germany was hisday job as a passport control officer, issuing visas for people wishing to leave Germany for Britain or its empire.

He exploited his position to get visas for Jews, sparing more than 10,000 from death at the hands of the Nazis, according to a 1999 book by journalist Michael Smith.

He also helped forge passports and even hid people in his own home, according to the BBC. However,because many of the people he helped would not have known abouthis role in their escape, Foley'sachievements never became common knowledge.

Honoured by Yad Vashem

Foley's work to save Jews wasn'tdirected by head office but was his own initiative,said historian Mark Seaman, also speaking onOttawa Morning.

Maybe his medals are going to be an inspiration to those new officers, for future generations to follow his values.- Historian Mark Seaman

More than four decades after his death in 1958, Foleywasgiven the honour of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel's national authority for Holocaust remembrance.

When the Second World War started and Foley left Germany, Foley left behind "a thick wad of already approved visaswith instructions that they should be distributed to those fleeing the Nazi terror," Yad Vashem's testimonial notes.

The authority also notesFoley didn'thave diplomatic immunity in Berlin, and if the Nazis discovered what he was doing, "he would have suffered a much worse fate than being persona non grata."

Foley was alsohonoured in 2004 witha plaque outside the British embassy in Berlin.

Medals were going to be kept in the family

Michael Foley said he had previously intended to keep themedals in the family, passing them down to his own sons.

That changed after the family was contacted by the British High Commission in Canada, which asked to see the medals and other artifacts such as the Yad Vashem certificate and some photos.

Nowboth the Foleyfamily and Seaman are looking forward to more public servants learning Foley'sstory through those artifacts.

"Frank Foley had two families. He had theFoleysand he had the secret intelligence service," Seaman said.

"One hopes that maybe his medals are going to be an inspiration to those new officers, for future generations to follow his values."

The story should inspire those outside the service as well, Seaman said.

"This is one of the biggest parts of my work, is to make people put [fictional spies like]George Smiley and James Bond to one side and pay due credit to this truly great man," Seaman said.

Foley's intelligence work was also exemplary, Seaman said, which is why he was chosen to interrogate Adolf Hitler's deputyRudolf Hess when he turned up in the U.K. in 1941.

"Sad to say that [Hess]was so befuddled they didn't get an awful lot out of him," Seaman said. "Not even Frank Foley managed it."