The German Deserter Who Warned the Soviets for Barbarossa: Alfred Liskow

On June 21, 1941, at 9 pm, German soldier Alfred Liskow swam across the Bug River, the natural border between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. He said to the Soviet Border Guards that the next day Hitler would attack. Liskow claimed to be a devoted communist and had been a member of the Roter Frontkämpferbund, a German far-left paramilitary organization, that existed in the 1920s. It is claimed he said: “I am from a family of workers, from Kolberg. My parents and I hate Hitler and his regime. For us, the USSR is a friendly country, and we don’t want to fight with the Soviet people.”

The NKVD guards at first didn't believe him and when the information reached Stalin it was too late as the attack had begun. The Soviet propaganda machine later used Liskow’s image. Shortly after he joined the Comintern, but was arrested early 1942 and sent to Siberia that summer. It is believed he died there.