Wikipedia:
Hermann Leopoldi (* August 15, 1888 in Gaudenzdorf, Meidling-Schönbrunner Straße (today Vienna, 12th district, Schönbrunner Straße 219) as Hersch Kohn; † June 28, 1959 Vienna, 9th district, Mariannen-gasse 10 (Polyclinic)) was an Austrian composer, cabaret artist and piano humorist.
His father Leopold Kohn (the family name was officially changed to Leopoldi in 1911) was a musician and taught his sons Ferdinand (1886-1944) and Hermann to play the piano. He also sought engagements for them; by 1904 Hermann was already going into his first engagement as a piano accompanist, later becoming a bandmaster, a bar pianist, and soon a piano humorist and composer.
In 1911, he married Eugenie Kraus (1894-1982); the marriage produced two children, Norbert (1912-1992) and Gertrude (1915-1992). He was called up at the beginning of the First World War and soon became active as a piano humorist and bandmaster in the ''Front Varieté''. In 1916, he made his first major appearance at the ''Ronacher'' establishment in Vienna. After the First World War, the need for entertainment was great, and accordingly the Leopoldi brothers were also busy artists. In 1922, together with the emcee Fritz Wiesenthal, they finally opened the cabaret "Leopoldi-Wiesenthal", or "L.W." for short, at Rothgasse 5 in Vienna's first district. The venue soon became known far beyond the city's borders. In addition to Leopoldi-Wiesenthal, Charlotte Waldow, Franzi Ressel, Armin Berg, Hans Moser, Szöke Szakall, Max Hansen, Fritz Grünbaum, Karl Valentin, Raoul Aslan and Otto Tressler performed here more or less regularly. In 1925, however, they had to close the restaurant for financial reasons; none of the operators possessed a formal education in business. Thereafter, they made guest appearances in Berlin, in Switzerland and undertook tours.
Hermann Leopoldi slowly became one of the most popular song composers and performance artists. He created the music for Viennese songs and chansons, set texts by Peter Herz, Rudolf Skutajan, "Salpeter" (i.e. Karl Pollach), Theodor Waldau, Robert Katscher, Fritz Löhner-Beda, Fritz Rotter or Hanns Haller to music. His stage partner from 1929 was Betja Milskaja, born around 1907 in Odessa as Basia Meiltreiger. Together they gave guest performances in Berlin, Paris, Budapest, Bucharest, Prague, Karlsbad and of course Vienna.
In order to escape the imminent "Anschluss of Austria" on March 11, 1938, they both drove to Brno that very night for an already planned performance on March 12. The train, already overcrowded with refugees, among them Fritz Grünbaum, was stopped at the Czech border. Edvard Beneš had had the border closed to refugees, and so everyone was sent back. On April 26, 1938, Leopoldi, together with his wife, had already prepared to enter the USA, and he was taken from his apartment to the police station for "information," from there to the makeshift prison in Karajangasse and then transferred to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was imprisoned together with Fritz Grünbaum, Paul Morgan and Fritz Löhner-Beda. In September 1938, they were deported to Buchenwald concentration camp. There he wrote the Buchenwald Song, to which he composed the music based on Löhner-Beda's lyrics. According to Peter Diem, however, the melody of the so-called ''Dollfußlied'' (Song of Youth) was composed by Alois Dostal (Vienna 1878-1953 Vienna) and not by Leopoldi, to whom it was widely attributed. Lyricist and composer appeared under the pseudonym ''Austriacus''; it was also attributed by the National Socialists to Hermann Leopoldi, who was held in a concentration camp until Rudolf Henz confirmed as a witness that Leopoldi had nothing to do with the ''Dollfußlied''.
In the meantime, his wife, who was already in the USA, and her parents were able to "ransom" Leopoldi and sent an affidavit. He arrived in New York via Hamburg, where he was awaited by family and reporters. Immediately after setting foot on American soil, he kissed it, a picture that went around the world. This beginning helped him to enter the American entertainment business. Soon he was performing his Viennese songs at "Eberhardt's Café Grinzing" in New York, where he met Helly Möslein, his later stage and life partner. With lyricists who had also emigrated, such as Robert Gilbert, Kurt Robitschek, Arthur Berger, and also with Helly Möslein, Leopoldi's repertoire was adapted to the new language. With ''I am a quiet Drinker'' or ''A Little Café Down the Street'', both were soon able to give their own performances with great success in German-speaking New York cafés in exile, such as the "Old Vienna" or the "Viennese Lantern", and also in other cities in the USA. After the end of the war and at the invitation of the then Minister of Education Hurdes as well as the Vienna City Councilor for Culture Matejka, Leopoldi and Möslein returned to Vienna in 1947. Leopoldi was able to continue where he had been abruptly interrupted in 1938. Bars, vaudevilles, and entertainment venues flocked to him, and he and Möslein toured Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1955, a son Ronald was born to him and Möslein.
His honorary grave is located in the Vienna Central Cemetery (Group 15C, Row 2, No. 18), where his life partner Helly Möslein is also buried.
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
