CROSSROADS SCHOOL | Santa Monica California

THE HERBERT ZIPPER ARCHIVE
The Herbert Zipper Archive contains the personal papers of Herbert and Trudl Zipper and a reference collection of works relating to their lives. The archive has two parts:
· Archival Materials
· Reference Collection
ARCHIVAL MATERIALS include music scores, photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, and other items owned and/or created by the Zippers. Many of these items are unique and not available elsewhere. Copies of many items can be made available for class use with appropriate notice. Originals can be accessed only by collection staff and must stay in the Zipper Room.
THE REFERENCE COLLECTION contains some 2000 works related to various aspects of the Zippers’ diverse and courageous lives. Many books were collected by Paul Cummins in researching Herbert Zipper’s biography, and volumes continue to be added as appropriate.
Areas of concentration include:
· Holocaust studies and concentration camps, especially Dachau and Buchenwald
· The rise of the Nazis and European fascism
· Austrian culture, art, & politics up to World War II
· Philippine history and culture in the 20^th century
· Works on China and other Asian countries.

ZIPPER BIOGRAPHY
Herbert Zipper (1904–1997) was born in Vienna, Austria. Before World War II, Dr. Zipper was a classical musician, composer and conductor. During the war, like so many others of Jewish decent, Zipper and his brother were arrested by the Nazis and put in Dachau concentration camp. In Dachau Zipper organized a secret orchestra playing on improvised instruments in an abandoned latrine. Further, he composed a piece of music, Dachau Lied (Dachau Song) for which his friend and fellow prisoner Jura Soyfer wrote the lyrics. This song became an anthem of resistance which was passed from camp to camp throughout the war.

Later in the war, Zipper was transferred from Dachau to Buchenwald, another concentration camp, where his release was secured with the help of his family. Zipper then traveled to the Philippines to direct the Manila Symphony Orchestra. When the Japanese invaded, he was again interned. During the occupation of Manila Zipper was active in the underground resistance, radioing Japanese ship information to the U.S. fleet. When American forces liberated Manila in 1945, Zipper organized a concert for US troops. The concert was so successful that American military commissioned Zipper and the Manila Symphony to continue the concerts, eventually performing before over 200,000 military personnel.

After the war, Zipper and his wife Trudl moved to the United States, where Zipper continued composing, conducting and teaching music. Dr. Zipper had a long career in educator as a pioneer in music and the arts. He believed passionately in the value of the arts as an essential part of the human spirit; often credited the arts with saving him in Dachau and Buchenwald, by giving him the strength to resist the unimaginable. “We have to see the world as it is,” Zipper said, “but we must think about what the world could be. That is what the arts are about.” Throughout his courageous and inspiring life, Herbert Zipper repeatedly confronted inhumanity and injustice with responses that were active, humane, and positive. Later in life he traveled to China and other Asian countries as a musical educator and global emissary of arts education.

At a time when most people would be settling into retirement, Herbert Zipper became a teacher at Crossroads School, teaching musical composition and theory. While at Crossroads, Herbert relayed his life story to Paul Cummins, who turned Herbert’s incredible story into the book Dachau Song: the Twentieth Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper. Later Zipper’s life was depicted in the Academy Award-nominated documentary, Never Give Up (American Film Foundation 1995). When he passed away in 1997, Herbert Zipper left his personal papers to the Paul Cummins Library at Crossroads School.

ZIPPER ARCHIVE PROCEDURES
Access to the collection is through prior arrangement with the collection’s archivist. If you have any further questions please contact us at:
CONTACT: David Martino - ARCHIVIST
PHONE: (310) 829-7391 ext. 259
E-MAIL: dmartino@xrds.org

People interested in finding out more about
Herbert Zipper should read Dachau Song,
by Paul Cummins, and see the documentary,
Never Give Up; both are available at the Paul Cummins Library.