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I read with very great interest your article on Varian Fry, the improbable "Pimpernel" who rescued 1,500 intellectuals and artists from Vichy France ("The Saviour", 11 March).
I was living in Berlin in 1939, employed by the Foreign Office. My boss was Captain Frank Foley, HM Consul. He was a most charming man, interesting and erudite, but he appeared to have one flaw, which was a bit of a joke in the office - he spoke no German. None the less, most evenings he was to be seen with his wife in one or other of the numerous nightclubs of Berlin, enjoying himself.
At the end of August 1939, the Russian Treaty was signed and our office was closed. The staff returned to the UK on the last civilian train. I never saw Capt Foley again.
Years later, Capt Foley was mentioned in the Eichmann Trial in Israel in 1961, when it was stated that "Captain Foley singlehanded saved more Jews than any other person, he was the Pimpernel of Jewry".
ann forbes-robertson
Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
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