Emanuel Theodore Bronner (born Emanuel Heilbronner, February 1, 1908 – March 7, 1997) was the maker of

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps is an American producer of Organic product, organic soap and personal care products headquartered in Vista, California. The company was founded in the late 1940s by Emanuel Bronner and continues to be run by members of t ...

. He used product labels to promote his moral and religious ideas, including a belief in the goodness and unity of humanity.

History

Bronner was born in Heilbronn, Germany, to the Heilbronner family of soap makers. He immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1929, dropping "Heil" from his name because of its associations with

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1936. As his family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, he pleaded with his parents to emigrate with him for fear of the then-ascendant

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

, but they refused. His last contact with his parents was in the form of a

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

saying, "You were right. —Your loving father." His parents were murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. File:BronnerNaturalizationCertificate.jpg, Bronner's 1936 naturalization certificate making him a U.S. citizen File:BronnerNaturalizationCertificatePhoto.jpg, Portrait from the naturalization certificate

Career

He started his business making products such as castile soap by hand in his home. The product labels are crowded with statements of Bronner's philosophy, which he called "All-One-God-Faith" and the "Moral ABC", both of which he included on the label of every soap bottle he produced.Ben Ehrlich, ''Dr. Bronner's Soapy History'', The ewishForward, June 29, 2007, page 2. Many of Bronner's references came from

and Christian sources, such as the

Shema ''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...

and the Beatitudes; others from writers such as

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

and

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

. On his labels, he referred to the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder as "Rabbi Hillel" and to

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

as "Rabbi Jesus." The labels became famous for their idiosyncratic style, including hyphens to join long strings of words and the liberal use of

exclamation mark The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...

s. In 1946, while promoting his "Moral ABC" at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, Bronner was arrested for refusing to leave the dean's office, despite the fact he was invited to the campus to lecture by a local student group, and then committed to the

Elgin Mental Health Center The Elgin Mental Health Center (formerly Elgin State Hospital & the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane) is a mental health facility operated by the State of Illinois in Elgin, Illinois. Throughout its history, Elgin's mission has ...

, a mental hospital in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

, from which he escaped after shock treatments. Bronner believed those shock treatments brought about his eventual blindness. After moving his family several times, he settled in

Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Et ...

, where eventually his soap-making operation grew into a small factory. At his death in 1997, it produced more than a million bottles of soap and other products per year, but was still not mechanized. The firm has been the subject of many published articles and has supported many charitable causes.

Legacy

After Bronner's death, his family has continued to run the business. His grandson

David Bronner David Bronner (born 1973) is an American corporate executive and activist. As the top executive at Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, he has become known for his activism around a range of issues, especially fair trade, sustainable agriculture, anima ...

is currently CEO. His life was the subject of a 2007

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

, ''Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox'', which premiered on the

Sundance TV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

channel, on 3 July 2007. The

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its g ...

has a ship, the , donated by the soap company.

References

External links

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps Home Page

''Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox'', a documentary film

(2012-04-03) in '' Inc.'' magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Bronner, Emanuel Bronner, E. H. Bronner, E. H. American people of German-Jewish descent American blind people German people of Jewish descent People from Escondido, California People from Heilbronn 20th-century American businesspeople German emigrants to the United States Moral philosophers American pacifists Activists from California 20th-century American philosophers