Helmut Roloff

Helmut Roloff was a German pianist, recording artist, teacher and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. In September 1942 Roloff was arrested in Berlin in the roundup of an anti-Nazi resistance group allegedly at the centre of a wider European espionage network identified by the Abwehr under the cryptonym the Red Orchestra. Covered by comrades who persuaded their interrogators that his contact with the group had been unwitting, he was spared execution and released. In post-war West Berlin, Roloff taught at the Academy of Music. After serving as the school's director, he retired in 1978.