Anders Gustavsson a Swedish volunteer in the Red Army

Anders Gustavsson a Swedish volunteer in the Red Army

Anders Gustavsson was born in the Swedish village of Tvååker in 1899.
His parents was poor farmers who was forced to sell the farm. Anders Gustavsson became member of the Socialist Democratic Paty but left it for the Communists. 1925 Gustavsson, together with many other Swedish communists, went to the Soviet Union to study Marxism. He met a woman named Ludmila and fell in love. Gustavsson decided to stay in the Soviet Union. He became a member of the Communist Party. During the great purge in the 1930s, Gustavsson lost his party
membership.

Gustavsson, who spoke many languages, Swedish, Russian, English and German, had to work with propaganda aimed at German soldiers when the war broke out in 1941. The family lived in Leningrad but the wife and two daughters were evacuated. During the siege, Gustavsson had to leave his place in the propaganda and became a front-line soldier. He fell ill in scurvy. He recovered
and continued his duty in the Red Army. Gustafsson became an officer and was involved in battles on many fronts. He was often the interrogator when German soldiers were to be interrogated. Shortly before the German capitulation, Gustavsson had been appointed major.

Gustavsson moved home to Leningrad. His wife had died, however, he saw his two daughters again. He later remarried. Gustavsson continued to live in the Soviet Union, but he still wanted to be buried in Sweden. He is buried just a few kilometers from the place where he was born. He died in 1990.

Anders Gustavsson and his wife.