Theodore Creizenach 1818-1877
Creizenach was an accomplished poet and historian of literature; son of Michael Creizenach; born 1818 in Mayence; died 1877, at Frankfort-on-the-Main. He studied classical antiquities in Giessen, Göttingen, and Heidelberg, and then lived for several years at Paris as tutor in the house of Aaron Anselm Rothschild. Upon his return from Paris in 1842 Creizenach became teacher in the Jewish Philanthropin at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and was one of the principal founders of the Frankfort Jewish Reform Verein; in 1854 he expressed faith in the Messiah of Israel. It is doubtful he continued teaching in the Jewish school, and indeed, by 1859 he was teaching in the Frankfort municipal high school. He was appointed professor of history and literature at the Frankfort gymnasium in 1863.
In the literary world Creizenach attracted attention by such poetical productions as “Dichtungen,” Frankfort, 1839; and “Gedichte,” Frankfort, 1848; 2d ed., 1851.
Being familiar with the personality and life of Goethe in his relations to Frankfort, he edited and published Goethe’s correspondence with Madame von Willemer, under the title “Der Briefwechsel Zwischen Goethe und Marianne von Willemer,” 2d ed., Stuttgart, 1878. In conjunction with O. Jäger he took charge of the new edition of Schlosser’s “Weltgeschichte,” 1870 et seq.; and in conjunction with Otto Müller edited a weekly publication, “Das Frankfurter Museum.”
Sources
Adolph Kohut, Berühmte Israelitische Männer und Frauen, xi. 383, Leipsic, 1901;
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon.S. B. B.
I. M. Jost, Michael Creizenach, in Isidor Busch, Kalender und Jahrbuch für Israeliten auf das Jahr 5604, Vienna, 1843
Jewish Encyclopedia 1906