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In search of a better life:
Tracing your ancestors at the German Emigrant Center in Bremerhaven
By Kitty Kerner
Between 1821 and 1914 more than 44 million people emigrated from Europe to the Americas – all in search for a better life. Overpopulation, land poverty, political upheaval and social unrest were the main reasons that so many people left their familiar surroundings to start a new life in the New World.
While Ellis Island has long been a Mecca for Americans to visit and trace their immigrant family roots, Europe has only recently opened their own museum that tells the story of the long voyage so many people undertook. The German Emigration Center was built 2005 in Bremerhaven, a small port town that was one of the main exit points for many European emigrants.
From the early 1800s until 1974 over 7.2 million passengers boarded ships here bound for New York, Boston and other American harbors. Bremerhaven was conveniently located and easy to reach; it also had a reputation that their ships maintained certain minimum standards, making the long passage less risky than from other European ports.
Once you step inside, this museum literally takes you along for the ride and lets you dive right into the historical experience. Your voyage starts with a boarding pass complete with a name of a “real” emigrant, the date they were born and the ship they travelled on. Throughout the exhibit, you follow “your” emigrant and share his or her experiences during their long voyage.
The scene is set at an authentic dock area teaming with life from departing emigrants. They’re lined up along the pier, the topsides of a life-sized ship looming overhead, surrounded by their baggage and crates with provisions for the vessel. The area is filled with the sounds of the harbor and you can listen in on the conversations those emigrants may have held…to share their fears, their determination, and most of all, their hopes.
The next stop before you actually board the ship is an extensive archive/library area, where you learn about the background of not only “your” emigrant, but also the entire body of emigrants that left Europe during the course of several centuries. Where were they from? Why did they leave their home? What did they take along? Both the individual histories and the historic overview of the political and social situation in Europe help visitors to understand the forces that drove this giant wave of emigrants to new and unknown shores.
The best part of the museum, I thought, is when you finally board the ship. After being primed in this fashion, one is almost as excited to walk up the ship’s gangway as the emigrants must have been. The exhibit takes you through three different modes of transportation, according to the eras of emigration. The first wave occurred in the early 1800s, when passengers were cramped below decks in the hold of sailing ships, which took on human cargo on their way from Europe to America.
The idea of spending weeks cooped up in such cramped areas, sharing beds, with poor hygiene and poor food supply, often without fresh air for days, is almost too much for us modern humans to contemplate. With death and disease as constant companions on those trips, many never reached their destination.
Steamships brought some improvement in the late 1800s, mostly by cutting down the time needed for the passage and by adding a few amenities. The era of the ocean liners, finally, was downright decadent – bringing even third-class passengers such luxuries as dining rooms offering regular meals, cabins with running water and even a small porthole for fresh air.
Arrival in the New World – at a reconstruction of Ellis Island – not always brought the welcome the emigrants had expected. Quite a few were turned back because they lacked funds, had a contagious disease, or otherwise failed to give the right answers to the barrage of questions that they were asked after they finally disembarked. You can see how your own emigrant made out and then give it a try yourself and face the tough scrutiny of the immigration board.
But unlike in real life, even if you’re not successful you are still admitted to the next room. During the rest of the tour you can follow up on what happened to the emigrants and their descendants once they entered the United States – their stories continue. There is much more information than you can possibly take in during the first visit, when you’re still a bit tired from the long voyage.
For those who know when their ancestors may have taken the long trip across the ocean, another large archive provides access to information in several online data banks and perhaps lets you find out more about your own connection to the emigrants. Most of the exhibits in the museum are bilingual, by the way, and naturally it has become a popular destination for many Americans travelling to Europe.
The museum also highlights the modern migrations that are taking place in many places around world, even though it is hard to keep this kind of information up to date. War, religious persecution, poverty, population and environmental pressure and other reasons still drive millions of people away from their homes today…to unknown destinations and insecure futures. I wonder if anyone will ever erect a museum for them?
Find out more about the German Emigrant Center in Bremerhaven at www.dah-bremerhaven.de.
The website is also available in English.
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