German Baumkuchen 'tree cake' survived a disaster and world wars to become a Japanese favorite

NINOSHIMA, Japan -- Baumkuchen originated successful Germany but has go a wildly fashionable saccharine successful Japan, wherever a captive of warfare connected a tiny occidental land started making the dainty that has thrived successful its caller homeland.

Today, the confectionery known arsenic “tree cake” due to the fact that of the resemblance to a trunk with rings is considered a awesome of longevity and prosperity successful Japan, wherever Baumkuchen festivals are regularly held.

Japanese adaptations, including those utilizing maccha and saccharine potatoes, are fashionable gifts astatine weddings and birthdays. Baumkuchen is sold successful acquisition boxes astatine luxury section stores and individually wrapped, smaller versions tin beryllium recovered astatine convenience stores.

The sweet's aboriginal years, however, are associated with a catastrophic earthquake and 2 satellite wars.

Making Baumkuchen is 1 of astir fashionable activities connected Ninoshima, conscionable a 20-minute ferry thrust from Hiroshima. But visitors besides indispensable larn the sleepy island’s relation successful Japan’s wartime history, according to Kazuaki Otani, caput of the Juccheim Ninoshima Welcome Center.

At the outdoor halfway built implicit the tract of a captive of warfare camp, amateur bakers determination batter connected a bamboo rod and roast the substance implicit a charcoal fire. As the aboveground turns airy brown, a caller furniture is poured, creating brownish rings arsenic the barroom grows thicker and the saccharine odor wafts done the picnic area.

This is however a German confectioner named Karl Juchheim baked Baumkuchen portion helium was imprisoned connected the land much than 100 years ago.

During Japan’s militarist enlargement play opening successful the precocious 1890s, Ninoshima served arsenic a subject quarantine presumption arsenic adjacent Hiroshima developed into a large subject hub. About 4,700 mostly German civilians and servicemembers were kept astatine 16 camps crossed Japan during World War I. The German prisoners astatine Ninoshima were fixed “a definite grade of freedom” and allowed to cook, Otani said.

Juchheim was moving a bakery successful Qingdao, China, past a German territory, erstwhile helium was captured by the Japanese successful 1915. He arrived connected Ninoshima successful 1917 with immoderate 500 German POWs and is believed to person tested his Baumkuchen look there, Otani said.

When the warfare ended successful 1918, Juchheim and astir 200 chap POWs stayed successful Japan. In March 1919, Juchheim’s Baumkuchen commercially debuted successful Japan astatine the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition. His handmade barroom was hugely fashionable and attracted a large assemblage of Japanese visitors, humanities documents show.

The confectioner opened a pastry store successful Yokohama, adjacent Tokyo, successful 1922. The 1923 Great Kanto quake destroyed the concern and forced Juchheim to determination his household to the occidental larboard metropolis of Kobe, wherever helium opened a java store serving Baumkuchen. That store was leveled by U.S. firebombings connected Kobe 2 months earlier the extremity of World War II.

Yet helium remained and grew the concern successful Kobe, wherever Juchheim Co., Ltd., inactive operates arsenic 1 of Japan’s apical confectioners with the assistance of his woman Elise and devoted Japanese staff.

The atomic weaponry dropped by the U.S. connected Hiroshima connected Aug. 6, 1945, and different connected Nagasaki 3 days aboriginal killed much than 210,000 by the extremity of that year. In the aftermath, astir 10,000 severely injured victims were shipped from Hiroshima to Ninoshima for attraction and impermanent shelter. Most died determination and galore of their remains person yet to beryllium found, experts say.

Juchheim died of unwellness astatine a Kobe edifice connected Aug. 14, 1945, the time earlier Japan announced its surrender.

“His baking was an look of his privation for peace,” Otani said. “By sharing with visitors what things were similar backmost then, I anticipation it gives radical an accidental to bespeak connected peace.”