Jochsberger was born in
Leutershausen,
Bavaria,
Germany, as
Hilda Jochsberger. Her father Nathan was a cattle dealer, and her mother Sofie (
née Enslein) a homemaker. Sofie bought Tzipora a piano when she was 5 years old; by 8, she was having private tutoring in
Ansbach. As one of the few
Jewish families in Leutershausen, and amid
growing antisemitic legislation in
Nazi Germany, the Jochsbergers faced physical attacks and restrictions on education in Germany. However, she later moved to the
Jewish Teachers Seminary in
Würzburg, Bavaria, and began to learn
Hebrew and sewing. After Jochsberger had left home, her parents went into hiding following physical attack in their hometown. They sold their house Leutershausen, later moving to
Nuremberg. At the seminary, a classmate of Jochsberger's told her that she was going to perform at the Palestine Conservatory of Music in
Jerusalem and audition to live and learn music in Palestine. Wishing to follow in her classmate's footsteps, and seeing this as an escape from Nazi persecution, Jochsberger asked her father to take her to
Berlin. Before leaving, she performed
Songs Without Words by
Felix Mendelssohn to the founder of the conservatory. ==Career==