In 1938, the Jewish actress Minnie Maria Korten, star of the European stage, left Nazi Germany for the safety of the United Kingdom. In her hand luggage she carried a few theatre reviews, some photographs and a copy of Goethe's Faust. Eventually she arrived in New Zealand with her family 'in exile at the other end of the world'. In her new home she was known as Madame Maria Dronke. Renowned for her dark, beautiful voice and magnetic presence, Maria Dronke entranced audiences with her acting and poetry recitals, created spectacular productions and trained the first generation of New Zealand professional actors.