At only 11 years old, Liana Romero She became the youngest Spanish spy in World War II by being part of one of the most dangerous spy networks in the world. And her mother, Larissa Swirsky, known as the ‘Queen of Hearts’, worked as a double agent during the war.
At first, Larissa Swirsky collaborated with the Nazisbut later decided to help the British by discovering what was happening with the extermination camps. To do this, he used his daughter Liana as cover for his risky missions. Between them, both managed to prevent the Nazis from invading Gibraltar.
More than 80 years later, Liana Romero has given her shocking testimony on the podcast ‘I had doubts’ by Judith Tiral. In the interview, published on YouTube, the old woman recounts her experiences, full of chilling moments. Among them, when she was just a girl and managed to escape from the Nazis with her parents.
Larissa and Liana’s beginnings as a spy
Larissa, of Ukrainian origin, arrived in Germany in 1920 as an exile after the Russian Revolution. Later, he moved to Paris, a haven for the Russian nobility. In Cannes, he met Liana’s father, of Sevillian origin. “My father started out as a merchant marine, then he joined a military base in Mallorca,” says the old woman.
In 1940, when Liana’s father was stationed in Ceuta, her mother met a woman who worked for the Germans. «They were having lunch when two gentlemen appeared, very well dressed, they introduced themselves and she introduced them to my mother (…) Everything was concocted because they opened up and told her that needed me to work for them», points out the old woman.
A photograph of Larissa Swirsky
In the middle of the war between Germany and Russia, Larissa agrees to become a spy with the Germans’ promise to recover her properties in her native country and find out where her parents were buried. Then, it begins its work within the triangle formed by Tetouan, Ceuta and Tangier. «It was a nest of spies because there was the Strait Passage. The Germans wanted Gibraltar», explains Liana in the podcast.
Liana’s father was transferred to Puente Mayorga, in Cádiz, a “key place in the bay of Gibraltar.” There, Larissa worked as a spy and “the risk began.” «They give him special permits and he enters Gibraltar as if he were shopping, but what he is going to do is observe military activities. He always goes hand in hand with his girl as a cover», explains the old woman.
In one of their first missions, and one of the most risky, “the Italians, in the service of the Germans, had blown up some tanks full of fuel and fuel in the port. They asked my mother to go to the pier and take photographs to show that they had completed the mission.
Both managed to escape on that occasion from being caught and, therefore, from being executed. «I didn’t take the most dangerous missions with her»says Liana, who lived everything as an “adventure” when she was just a girl.
This is how they managed to escape from the Germans
Larissa decided to stop working for the Nazis once she found out about the existence of the Nazis. extermination camps through a relative whose husband worked in the French resistance. “He starts telling her some crazy things that my mother faints,” says Liana.
Then, Larissa contacted the head of the English secret service and offered to collaborate with them. “They all came home, that was the UN”jokes Liana, who points out that her mother lived with “fear” those years working as a double spy.
The critical moment came with the assignment of a new mission by the Germans. «They try the last trick. “They ask him to leave Cádiz aboard a transatlantic liner and deliver a briefcase in Buenos Aires,” says the old woman.
Although Liana’s father did not agree with Larissa carrying out this operation, the woman was determined to carry it out. However, the English secret service managed to warn the spy before: “They told her that there were two German agents on board who, At the height of the Azores Islands, they were going to pull him out of the water.
To avoid having to perform this operation, “a doctor certified that my mother had slipped and he had broken his leg». This, together with the fact that the father was transferred to Seville by the Spanish Government, was the end of Larissa’s work as a spy.
“People will wonder, how did he survive? Protected by the Spanish Government“concludes Liana, who assures that espionage was never mentioned again in her house: “Every day of my life I was left with that intrigue and that disenchantment.”
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