Background
Bronner was born in Heilbronn, Germany, to the Heilbronner family of soap makers. As his father was Jewish, he pleaded with his parents to emigrate with him for fear of the then-ascendant Nazi Party, but they refused.
Bronner was born in Heilbronn, Germany, to the Heilbronner family of soap makers. As his father was Jewish, he pleaded with his parents to emigrate with him for fear of the then-ascendant Nazi Party, but they refused.
Bronner, whose parents were killed in the Holocaust, promoted a belief in the goodness and unity of humanity. He emigrated to the United States in 1929, dropping "Heil" from his name. He started his business making products 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 American Broadcasting Company".
Many of Bronner"s references came from Jewish and Christian sources, such as the Shema and the Beatitudes. Others from poets such as Rudyard Kipling.
In 1947, while promoting his "Moral American Broadcasting Company" at the University of Chicago, Bronner was arrested while giving a lecture for speaking without a permit and committed to the Elgin Mental Health Center a mental hospital in Elgin, Illinois, from which he escaped after shock treatments. Bronner believed those shock treatments caused him to go blind.
After moving his family several times, he settled in Escondido, California, 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 a year, but was still not mechanized. The firm has been the subject of many published articles and has supported many charitable causes. After Bronner"s death, his family have continued to run the business.
They have said the labels he wrote will not change except when required by government regulations.
His life was the subject of a 2007 documentary film, Doctor Bronner"s Magic Soapbox.