Herbert Zipper

Herbert Zipper (April 24, 1904 in Vienna, Austria – April 21, 1997 in Santa Monica, California) was an internationally renowned composer, conductor, and arts activist. As an inmate at Dachau concentration camp in the late 1930s, he arranged to have crude musical instruments constructed out of stolen material, and formed a small secret orchestra which performed on Sunday afternoons for the other inmates. Together with a friend, he composed the "Dachau Lied" ("Dachau Song"), which was learned by the other prisoners. Released in 1939, he accepted an invitation to conduct the Manila Symphony Orchestra. Jailed for four months by the Japanese during their occupation of the Philippines, after his release, he worked secretly for the Allies, transmitting shipping information by radio. After the war, he emigrated to the United States in 1946, where he conducted the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and promoted music education.