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on other languages: Deutsch, Русский THE WORLD-FAMOUS ORIGINAL
Don Cossack Chorus Serge Jaroff
Konstantin Chimtschenko
(aka Constantin Chimtchenko, Константин Чимченко)
Member from around 1928 to 1935. The singer and seven other singers left the Don Cossack Choir Serge Jaroff because of disputes.
He is shown on choir photos of the newly founded "Don-Kosaken-Chor nam. Atamann General Kaledin Conductor N. Herzog von Leuchtenberg". From 1940 he is no longer shown in choir photos.
By mid-1941 at the latest (attack on the Soviet Union / beginning of the retaliation bombing of German cities) the performances of Cossack choirs should no longer have been desired, which led to the dissolution of these choirs.
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On the photo of "Don-Kosaken-Chor nam. Atamann General Kaledin" choir
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According to a statement from the secretary of the Don Cossack Choir, S. Jaroff, regarding a denunciation by the choir director and some of his members in 1936 in the Third Reich, Germany it emerges that K. Chimtschenko held the post of cashier.
...Above all, Mr. Chimtschenko was on very friendly terms with Mr. Jaroff. As evidence of this I guide the following:
There are various administrative offices in the choir, e.g. that of the administrator, secretary, accountant and cashier, and a committee of inquiry. The members who fill these posts are elected by the choir, with the exception of the treasurer, who is determined by the conductor himself.
For this post only one member comes into question, to whom Mr. Jaroff has and has to give his very special trust, since he himself -Jaroff- in turn has to account for the entire chore for the administration of the funds.
Mr. Chimtschenko has often said to me how proud he would be to enjoy Mr. Jaroff's special trust.
The friendly relationship between Mr. Jaroff and Mr. Chimtschenko lasted until the moment when the latter made negative political statements about Germany, and when Mr. Jaroff withdrew the treasury.
After he apologized some time later, the cash management that had already been withdrawn was transferred to him again.
After an incident in Mexico, tempted by the great hospitality of the Mexicans, some choir members forgot the boundaries they had drawn and got drunk, punishments followed against which those affected rebelled and finally resigned.
...His tense relationship with member Levchenko is based on a downright ridiculous cause. During a break on a bus trip - in horrible, cold, wet, snowy weather - when the members were dressed in black hats, Levchenko jokingly said to him:
"You know, today you look like a rabbi." He even addressed him twice as "Mr. Rabbi Chimtschenko"; of course the salutation was meant to be quite harmless. Mr. Chimchenko, however, was seriously offended and remained so until he left the choir.
Siegfried Tiefenbeck | 
