Briton who saved Jews remembered

British ambassador Sir Peter Torry, right, explains to Elisheva Lernau a memorial stone in memory to Frank Foley inside British embassy in Berlin Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004.

A British agent who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis is being remembered with a plaque being placed outside the British embassy in Berlin.

Frank Foley was based in Berlin in the 1930s, working as a passport control officer, and using his position to provide papers for Jewish people.

It is believed Mr Foley saved tens of thousands of lives, even hiding people in his own home.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described him as "a true British hero".

Eyewitnesses recall Mr Foley as an unassuming hero - a small, slightly overweight man with round glasses .

But he was actually Britain's top spy in the city.

He not only interpreted the rules on visas loosely, enabling Jews to escape to Britain and Palestine, but he also helped to forge passports.

And, despite not having diplomatic immunity, he gave shelter to some people in his own home.

Mr Foley's efforts have already been recognised by Israel, which declared him a righteous gentile, like Oskar Schindler, and he has also been honoured by his home town of Stourbridge in the West Midlands.

Michael Smith of the Daily Telegraph, who wrote a book about him, said that although it is not known exactly how many lives Mr Foley saved, archive evidence would suggest the number was in the tens of thousands.

He said, "With Schindler you had 1,400 people working in a factory, working with him, they worked closely together. Their lives were together.

"So when they moved to Palestine, which later became Israel, they are all talking to each other, they are still on the phone to each other even if they are not living in Israel - they have a collective memory of what Schindler did.

"But with Foley a lot of the people he helped probably didn't even know he helped them.

"They were helped in ones or twos or in small family units - five or six people perhaps. They have got to Palestine. They have a visa they know they shouldn't have - they are not going to talk about it."  
 

一位英国间谍曾经从纳粹营中救出了数千名犹太人，日前，在英国驻柏林大使馆外竖起一块牌子来纪念这位英雄人物。

20世纪30年代时，弗兰克·福利在柏林从事护照签发工作，他利用职务之便为犹太人提供（逃离所必需的）证件。

据悉，福利先生挽救了数万名犹太人的生命，他甚至把犹太人藏匿在自己家中。

英国外交大臣杰克·司特劳称他是 “真正的大不列颠英雄”。

据一些见证人回忆，福利先生是一位谦逊的英雄——一个戴着圆框眼镜、微微有些发胖的小个子男人。

但他实际上是英国派驻柏林市的顶级间谍。

他不仅从宽解释有关签证的法规，使犹太人可以逃往英国和巴勒斯坦，而且还帮助犹太人伪造护照。

而且，尽管没有外交豁免权，他仍然让一些犹太人住在自己家里避难。

福利先生的功绩已经得到以色列的承认，和奥斯卡·辛德勒一样，他也获得了以色列政府颁发的“正义外邦人”勋章。他还受到了来自他的家乡（西米德兰的斯陶尔布里奇镇）的褒奖。

《每日电讯报》的迈克尔·史密斯写了一本关于他的书，他说，尽管没人知道福利先生究竟挽救了多少条生命，但相关的档案证据显示这个数字应该是几万。

他说，“有1400人在辛德勒的工厂干活，他们和他在一起，并肩工作。他们的生命是连在一起的。”

“因此当他们迁移到巴勒斯坦（后来的以色列），他们彼此交流；即使后来他们不在以色列生活了，他们仍然保持电话联系——对辛德勒所做的一切，他们拥有共同的记忆。”

“但是对福利来说，他帮助过的很多人可能根本不知道是他帮助了他们。”

“他们接受帮助时通常是一两个人或是一个小家庭（也许有五六人）。他们去了巴勒斯坦。他们拿到了连自己都清楚本来不该拥有的护照。他们是不会对别人说起这件事的。”

     Vocabulary:
agent: spy（密探，特务，间谍）

unassuming: exhibiting no pretensions, boastfulness, or ostentation; modest（不铺张招摇的；谦逊的）

diplomatic immunity: the exemption from taxation and ordinary processes of law afforded to diplomatic personnel in a foreign country（外交人员在外国被赋予的税收和通常法律程序的豁免权利）