Jewish leaders in the U.K. are asking for a public inquiry into whether war-time intelligence services recruited Nazi war criminals as Cold War spies and helped them avoid prosecution.
The revelations came to light after the BBC aired an episode of the "Nazi Next Door" which alleged that Nazi collaborator Stanislaw Chrzanowski was spy for MI6, the U.K’s foreign intelligence service.
According to German officials, Chrzanowski, who is retired and lives in Telford, England, is responsible for killing over 30 people during WWII. Chrzanowski, was born in Poland and after being taken prisoner and joining the allies in 1946, stayed permanently in the U.K. Police have in the past cited insufficient evidence in his case.
Chrzanowski’s stepson, John Kingston, long suspected his stepfather of being guilty of atrocities against Jews during the Holocaust. He spent years building up evidence, including secretly recording Chrzanowski during conversations and doing field work at a site of a massacre of Jews he believed his father was involved in.
Upon his death, Kingston gave all his research to a BBC journalist, who verified many of his suspicions.
During the investigation, the BBC found evidence that Chrzanowski, whose Nazi background would have been known to authorities, was working for U.K intelligence at a refugee camp in Berlin in the 1950s.
Now, U.K. Jewish community leaders want answers. They are calling for a public inquiry.
Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told BBC News that if the evidence is accurate, this is "a very dark day for Britain - and for British Jews".
"What we need to have here is a very open and honest conversation about the whole of Britain's post-war actions," she said.
So far, the UK government has not issued a statement about Chrzanowski and whether he worked for MI6.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)