Tuesday, 29 October

Invited Mr. and Mrs. Chen Ding, Mr. and Mrs. K.T. Ken, Mr. and Mrs. C.Y. Chui, Miss Chiang, Miss Chen (daughter of Chen Chi-lang and Mr. Cui Dadi to dinner.

The embassy has exchanged the money for me so I asked Qian to return David Cheung the money that I owe him.

Chen Jingchen showed me a very interesting article written by XXX[sic] in Elle No.406 on “Heline Malenkov” and her quarrel with Tamara Beria. The substance is as follows: Heline Khronchtchev was born in 1916 at Koursk, Kalinova, a small Ukrainian village. Her father, Serguey Khronchtchev, was a farmer of relatively easy means. She was one of fifteen children and the youngest. When she was thirteen years old, her elder brother, Nikita, was already on his way up inside the Communist Party and was staying already at the National Hotel in Moscow. He wished his younger sister to become a star in the opera. They had an uncle, Professor Jouk, who taught at the School of Polytechnique.  He was a specialist in hydro-electric installations, as well as a member of the Academy of Science, and personal technical advisor to Stalin. Professor Jouk had a violin of Ingres and was fond of music and singing. Every Thursday several musicians and artists gathered in his apartment. Heline was the only one in Moscow who never missed one of these private concerts. She was, besides, very fond of sports including basket-ball and tennis and took part in the boat races of Khinki. Heline was a brilliant student, and in addition to her high school studies read a great many literary works by not only Russian but also foreign writers, such as Victor Hugo, Longfellow, Walt Whitman, etc. She left school as the dux. Finally pushed up by her brother, she became the secretary of a local committee of the Moscow Communist Party and member of its Central Committee. Among her five sponsors were Voroshilov, Bulganin, Molotov, Kaganovitch, Stalin. Thus, this girl of nineteen, typically Ukrainian with black eyebrows, dark brown eyes, tall and willowy, sportive, slightly melancholy and meditative, was full of high hopes.

All began at a private soiree at Professor Jouk’s. A great artist of the Moscow opera, Maksakova, was present. After the young girl had sung a number of popular Ukrainian songs, Maksakova (assured that the young girl was an extraordinary mezzo-soprano) applauded her highly and suggested that she enter the Moscow Conservatory and train for the opera. The family was very much flattered by such distinction. Several days later, Stalin spoke to her mother about her because Maksakova had reported to the Supreme Chief that she had discovered an exceptional young girl deigned for entering the Grand Opera. Thus flattered, Nikita decided to present Heline to his master at a meeting of the Air Force at Touchino. The actual presentation was by Professor Jouk. Stalin was accompanied by his daughter Svetlana of sixteen years and many Political Bureau leaders. The professor introduced her also to his old pupil, G.M. Malenkov. This important young man of 33 years old with features a little flabby, face puffy and steps heavy like those of a Ural bear, found himself completely seduced by this slender young girl with languorous, Ukrainian, eyes. His sentimental life was opened. He was just divorcing his first wife, Lena Roubtzova Golonbtzova who was compromised politically. He was then the fifth Secretary of Central Committee of the Communist Party. Since that meeting, Malenkov paid assiduous court to the young and beautiful sister of Nikita Khronchtchev. Heline refused to marry him before she could enter the Grand Opera of Moscow. They were engaged for two years and finally married in 1938 when Heline became a singer at the Grand Opera. She acted as star singer in the Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin. On his side, Malenkov also advanced. He became the third Secretary. In December, 1938, Stalin presented them with a beautiful dacha, an old hunting pavilion of Prince Galitzine, near his own Gorinka Dacha. They were thus at the height of their glory and happiness. They gave a brilliant reception there where Stalin and other members of the Political Bureau as well as artists, scientists, composers were present. That was in 1938.

In the same year, a new singing star appeared in the scene of the opera who rivaled Heline. She was Tamara Beria, the wife of the Chief of Secret Police. Stalin showed his preference for the latter and so every one in Moscow proclaimed her a great subject. The war of the “singers” burst out. Then the war started. Heline, married now for four years, had a son and a daughter but she continued her work at the opera. Patriotism was the order of the day, Glière chose for his new opera Guy de Maupassant’s Mlle Fifi, renaming it as Rachel with Heline acting as heroine. It was a great success. When Stalin returned from the front he received a report from Chtcherbakov, Beria’s man, that the heroine in Rachel was no more than a prostitute. It became a great scandal, and Tamara Beria could never hide her satisfaction when the “Fifi scandal” was mentioned. There were other disputes also between Mrs. Beria and Mrs. Malenkov. Finally, Stalin, out of patience told the two artists to stop their activities until the end of the war. Heline became a nurse at the Central Hospital (a military hospital) where she worked from eight in the morning to eight at night and saw even her husband rarely. The war came to an end and the little “war of the singers” revived and attained its culminating point in 1948 at Sochi. The Malenkovs had a dacha there named “Coucou”, and had as their neighbors Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Semion Budionni, Mikoyan, and also Stalin. About ten kilometres away was Beria’s. This whole region is a prohibited region guarded by special N.V.D guards under Colonel Kronglov and no one is allowed to enter without a special pass. One night in October 1948, Colonel Kronglov (at the investigation of Mrs. Malenkov) ordered a strict control and no one was allowed to enter without his authorization. A young man was found to have entered the zone with Mrs. Beria. He was a very beautiful young man named Gregory Peck[1], an ex-prince of Georgia and a cinema actor. He had a bad record having been involved in a plot, and after six months of detention had been freed only by the intervention of several wives of high officials. The ex-prince was again arrested, this time among the friends of the wife of the Chief of Police. He was sent to the Soviet Far East. Tamara Beria was severely reprimanded and expelled from the zone under Stalin’s order. Heline’s victory was almost complete. But the struggle continued and artistic circles in Moscow were still divided with the two women still in open war. So were their husbands. Now with Beria arrested, Heline’s victory was complete.

It is an interesting story, and I fully agree with Chen Jingchen that it is probably quite a true one.

[1] Gregory Pack was an American movie star. What Fu Bingchang noted here was from a gossip column.