British Army Officer. A veteran of World War I, he was head of the British Secret Intelligence operation in Berlin, Germany, during the interwar years until the Nazi invasion of Poland (and the British declaration of war on Nazi Germany) in September 1939, acquiring key details on German military research and development. Witnessing German Chancellor Adolph Hitler's rise to power, he was aware of the fate that lay ahead for the Jewish people, and he used his cover as passport control officer at the British Embassy to provide the necessary papers for these people to escape from Germany before the outbreak of war. Having no diplomatic immunity, he frequently risked his own life by venturing into concentration camps to help free Jewish internees. He also assisted them by providing forged passports and visas, and even hid them in his own home until they were able to leave Germany, exactly how many lives his bravery saved based upon archived evidence would suggest the number was in the tens of thousands. In 1958, when news of his death reached Israel, a special fund was organized to plant a grove of trees in his memory. Each one of the thousands of trees in the grove was paid for by someone he saved. In 1999 the memory of Frank Foley was honored in perpetuity by the Nation of Israel at Yad Vaslem in Jerusalem, as one whose acts placed him in the Righteous Among the Nations.
British Army Officer. A veteran of World War I, he was head of the British Secret Intelligence operation in Berlin, Germany, during the interwar years until the Nazi invasion of Poland (and the British declaration of war on Nazi Germany) in September 1939, acquiring key details on German military research and development. Witnessing German Chancellor Adolph Hitler's rise to power, he was aware of the fate that lay ahead for the Jewish people, and he used his cover as passport control officer at the British Embassy to provide the necessary papers for these people to escape from Germany before the outbreak of war. Having no diplomatic immunity, he frequently risked his own life by venturing into concentration camps to help free Jewish internees. He also assisted them by providing forged passports and visas, and even hid them in his own home until they were able to leave Germany, exactly how many lives his bravery saved based upon archived evidence would suggest the number was in the tens of thousands. In 1958, when news of his death reached Israel, a special fund was organized to plant a grove of trees in his memory. Each one of the thousands of trees in the grove was paid for by someone he saved. In 1999 the memory of Frank Foley was honored in perpetuity by the Nation of Israel at Yad Vaslem in Jerusalem, as one whose acts placed him in the Righteous Among the Nations.
Bio by: John Byrne
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