How much willpower
...does happiness need?
"Dat schall glücken und dat mutt glücken, und denn schall se ok Glückstadt heten!" - "It ought to succeed and it must succeed, therefore this town shall be called Glückstadt". It is not for certain that the Danish King Christian IV was fluent in Low German, but he was supposed to have uttered this sentence when in 1617 he lay the foundation stone for "his" planned city on the banks of the Elbe river northwest of Hamburg. "It ought to and it must succeed" could mean "where there is a will, there is a way" - and that could also be a mantra for our bakery.
Moin was founded in Bremen in 1995 but relocated to its new home in Glückstadt where it has been based since 1997. The fact that the word "Glück" - luck - is part of the town's name makes us feel at home here, as we feel lucky to have the opportunity to provide so many people with good food.
In 2017 Glückstadt celebrated its 400th anniversary and reflected upon its exciting history including the impulse for the town‘s founding which is especially inspiring.
Christian IV invited people who were persecuted in their home country for religious reasons to settle in Glückstadt. Thus, amongst others, Sephardic Jews from Portugal and reformed Christians from the Netherlands came to Lutheran Holstein where they were promised religious freedom and economic chances for development. At that time Glückstadt held the official title of “Tolerance Town“. Christian IV dreamed of a large metropolitan city which was supposed to surpass even Hamburg. He knew that such a vision could only be realized through a communal effort. He single-handedly staked out the area where his castle would be built in the middle of this model town of the late renaissance.
The idea of a metropolis obviously never really worked out and it wasn’t long before his castle sank into the muddy soil on the banks of the Elbe river (we at Moin have laid the foundation of our new hall more thoroughly...). However, we gladly take inspiration from the original idea of the town‘s founding. The team at Moin is comprised of many different nations: Russians, Polish, Ukrainians and many more. This wealth of experience and cultural identities adds flavor to our bakery and enriches this town as a whole. Lucky us!