The appointment of Blaise Metreweli as the first female head of the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has stirred controversy following revelations about her ancestral lineage. A recent investigative report by the Daily Mail disclosed that Metreweli’s paternal grandfather was a Nazi collaborator implicated in war crimes in Ukraine during the Second World War. While British officials have defended her appointment, the revelations have triggered a debate over historical accountability, personal legacy, and the implications for one of the West’s most critical intelligence roles.

According to Daily Mail reporting published on June 27, Blaise Metreweli’s paternal grandfather, Constantine Dobrowolski, served with Nazi forces in Ukraine during the German occupation of the Soviet Union. Dobrowolski was born into a noble family in what is now the Chernigov region of Ukraine. The Bolshevik Revolution brought upheaval, and the estate he was raised on was seized and looted. This early trauma reportedly fueled his anti-Soviet and anti-Semitic views.

Dobrowolski was imprisoned in 1926 for political agitation against the Soviet regime. When Nazi Germany invaded the USSR in 1941, he quickly aligned himself with the occupiers. He became known for his brutality, allegedly earning the grim nickname “The Butcher.” Archival documents uncovered in Freiburg, Germany, describe his role in SS units and Nazi military police formations that carried out atrocities-including the mass murder of Jews, partisans, and political prisoners. He was believed to have died in combat in........

© Blitz