Max Dienemann was born in September 1875 in
Krotoschin in the Prussian province of
Posen. Dienemann first attended a Jewish folk school and a high school. He then studied Oriental philology in
Breslau and graduated in 1898. In the following decades, Dienemann's works were published in Jewish newspapers, as he published sermons and Liberal interpretations of the
Torah. His lectures, held throughout Germany, testified to his more traditional attitude towards Judaism. He warned against nationalism and racism and pleaded for
Zionism. From 1903 to 1919 he was a rabbi in
Ratibor in
Upper Silesia. In 1919, he was appointed rabbi by the Israelite community in
Offenbach am Main and acted until 1938. Dienemann promoted the unity and independence of the Jews in Germany, but at the same time he also understood himself as a "German patriot". In 1935, Dienemann ordained
Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism. During the National Socialist era, Dienemann was interned twice in concentration camps. First interned in a camp in
Osthofen in 1933, he was later imprisoned in
Buchenwald in 1938. Together with his family, he was forced to emigrate after
Kristallnacht. In March 1939, the Dienemann family moved to
Palestine. Dienemann died less than a month later in
Tel Aviv. Today, Dienemann is remembered by a path commemorated to him in Offenbach am Main's Büsing-Park. His path intersects one dedicated to Regina Jonas. An organization stationed in Offenbach called the Max Dienemann / Salomon Formstecher Society draws their name from Dienemann and his predecessor
Salomon Formstecher. ==Works==