Tatjana Barbakoff (August 15, 1899 – February 6, 1944), born as Cilly Edelsberg, was a ballet and Chinese style dancer.

[1] Tatjana Barbakoff was born as Cilly Edelsberg in Hasenpoth, Courland Governorate, at the time a province of the Russian Empire, today in Latvia.

Barbakoff had an older brother, and after the early death of their mother in 1903, her father married Haja-Sora Itskovitch, with a step-sister following in 1912.

[4] Tatjana Barbakoff, of Russian-Jewish and Chinese heritage, was a cabaret icon and international dance sensation, known for her flamboyant costumes, legendary beauty and sharp sense of humor.

On 20 October 1940 she wrote a desperate letter to her friend, Maria My, from Préchacq-Navarrenx (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), and asked for a food parcel.

Following the withdrawal of Italian troops from the French Riviera, she went to Nice in 1944, where she was found hiding on the Côte d'Azur and picked up by the Gestapo,[7].

[2] Some of Barbakoff’s stage costumes were given by Gert Wollheim’s widow, Mona Loeb (1908–1997) to Düsseldorf City Museum.