I just saw your post about my grandfather, and would like to thank you for writing such a fair account of his later life. Sadly, I learn from you – and not the other way round as you might think! I never met my grandfather, and apart from what my grandmother Delphine and my father Simeon told me, there is little known about him. He remains a mystery to me, but I would love to find out about him and his second family – and my half uncle Anri (Henry).

The argument with Biberti, as I understand it, occurred as a result of Biberti pressuring other members of the group to accept him as their manager and leader of the Comedian Harmonists. Harry Frommermann set he group up and managed it, and so my grandfather naturally felt a lot of loyalty towards him. Biberti did manage to make himself responsible for the group’s finances, and as such had control over royalties and salaries. To punish my grandfather for refusing to accept him as leader, Biberti withheld one or two months salary from my grandfather – at which point a lawsuit was launched by Ari. This was in 1939 – approximately 2 months after war was commenced the case was held before a court in Berlin. But because Ari had already had to return to Sophia to carry out his duties as a senior officer in the Bulgarian army, he was unable to attend or send a representative. I don’t know what the outcome of the lawsuit was, or if it was settled then. I do know that Biberti somehow managed to make sure that he received all my grandfather’s royalties from the recordings of Comedian Harmonist contracts in Germany, and possibly elsewhere in mainland Europe. This meant that Ari never received the royalties he was due. It didn’t help that he was later stuck in a communist country; as you describe – it was impossible to get anything done – especially outside Bulgaria, as no-one was allowed to leave! An example of this is that my father was entered onto the citizens register in 1956 – and years later, because of this, even he (being British by birth) was advised by the British Home Office not to travel to Bulgaria because there was a strong chance he wouldn’t be allowed to come home to England!

Referring back to Ari being accused of being a traitor to his country: it shows how little understanding or regard was shown to healthy artistic excellence at the time of the Cold War. Any decent, well trained musicians – especially singers, have to know or perform in languages other than their native tongue. Did the Communist Party outlaw all the fantastic operas from France or Italy: yes – because they were seen as bourgeois. That’s why so many opera stars that emerged from Russia and the former Soviet Union only sang Verdi in Russian! I do remember my grandmother telling me that Ari was a very stubborn man: it doesn’t surprise me that he insisted on singing songs in other languages other than Bulgarian: he hated the notion that anyone could take away your liberty or freedom to think as you choose to. In fact, I can’t think of a person who was more passionate about being Bulgarian than he was. He fought with the partisans in the mountains to prevent the Russians and the Nazis from entering Bulgaria during the war, and he smuggled Jews and gypsies out of the country during the war too. Not many people know this, and I am proud of it, since my mother is Jewish. Had it not been for people like Ari Leschnikoff, a few more Jewish people would have been murdered or used as bargaining chips.

Thanks for the post, I hope my comment gives you more information.

Best regards,

Jessica Leschnikoff