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About Maximilian Ernst Reizenstein
See photos and document under the "Media" tab
Max grew up in Nuremberg, Germany, the son of prosperous assimilated Jews, Dr. Albert Reizenstein and Lina Reizenstein (Kohn).
Max is described by his son Michael as having been a free thinker from a very early age. He did not associate himself with his Jewish heritage, but was deep into Anthroposophy, the philosophical/spiritual/theosophical school founded by Rudolf Steiner. His wife, Helene, was a devotee as well.
Max played the violin. He was short in stature, a full head shorter than his German wife, according to Michael.
During the Nazi period but prior to WWII, Max attempted to emigrate to Switzerland, where he was a librarian in the Goethaneum, the library of Anthroposophy. When his visa expired, he had to return to Germany, where he was arrested by the Gestapo and interred in the Dachau concentration camp for over a year in the 1937-1938 time-frame. His offense was his marriage with an "Aryan" woman. He was eventually released due to great efforts by Helene and at great cost. To be released he had to have "no bruises" and have a country willing to accept him, and that country was New Zealand.
Max went by his middle name Ernst, and his wife Helene, went by her middle name Elisabeth
See http://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/4310/02_whole.pdf?se... pp. 74-82 for an account of Ernst and Elisabeth's influence and contribution to Anthroposophy in New Zealand. The document is also uploaded here on Geni and can be found under the "Media" tab.
A survey of the influence of Jews on New Zealand noted "Perhaps the widest impact has been on our daily bread. Dr Ernst Reizenstein [this is same person as Max], a refugee from Nazism, revolutionised the quality and varity of breads baked here from 1941 by introducing European-style wholegrain varieties, in particular Vogel’s, in the early 1950s.” https://literacynz.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/kosher-kiwis/. See the "Media" tab for an advertisement for "Reizenstein Bread."
Written by Dan Travers based in part on a conversation with Michael Reizenstein, Max's son
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"After escaping from the Nazis, Max found himself in New Zealand, and among his possessions were some hand-written recipe books from the Kohn family, including the Kohn family recipe for Rosh Hashanah honey cake. Max asked a German baker there if he could rent space in the bakery to make some honey cake to sell to other Jewish refugees and the man agreed. Max then began to bake other European specialty breads. When the German man retired, Max bought the bakery and shipped the honey cakes worldwide to gourmet groceries. We found it for sale in Berkeley, California, with the name Max Reizenstein Bakery, Aukland, New Zealand on it, and that's how we knew he had survived the war. The recipe was the same as made by Pauline Hopf Kohn." -- story told by my mother, Liselotte Erlanger Glozer.
This story was contributed by catherine yronwode. The Kohn honey cake recipe was later published in the cook book "My Lady's Closet Opened" by Liselotte Erlanger and catherine yronwode, and also in the cook book "Hoodoo Food!" edited by Robin Petersen.
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Maximilian Ernst Reizenstein's Timeline
| 1902 |
May 8, 1902
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Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
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| 1970 |
July 17, 1970
Age 68
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Switzerland
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