Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [593]
Over 7 million emigrants left from Bremerhaven between 1830 and 1974, but who were they exactly? They were a wide group, Dr Eick says. In the mid-19th century many emigrants were looking for land and work. Later emigrants were Jews who came from Eastern Europe, especially Russian Jews escaping pogroms from 1871 until the 1930s. During the Nazi period many were Jewish refugees, who up until 1939 left from Bremerhaven for the USA, Great Britain or other countries.
Until 1900, entering the USA was relatively straightforward for any European, Dr Eick says. ‘But after 1900 you had to have money and you couldn’t be in ill health. On Ellis Island, if the immigration inspector saw you were disabled, for example, a C for Crippled was marked on your jacket – after that, you had to return to Europe. The steamship company was forced to pay the passage, so the companies began having their own doctors at the harbours.’ Later, in 1921, a quota act was introduced in the USA. Under a system aimed at regulating the inflow of nationalities, only 3% of the total number of any ethnic group already in America could enter each year. Based on the census of 1910 – about 8 million Americans born in Germany or of German descent lived in the United States at that time.
Getting out of Germany was not always easy either, she says. Until 1871 you were not a citizen, you belonged to the German ruler and needed a special release form before you could leave. In the days of sailing ships, the boats could be delayed and passengers had to wait in Bremerhaven – there were no exact departure dates. ’There was a lot of waiting. This was a danger for people. A lot left Bremerhaven without any money at all, having spent it on food and on a hotel. It was tragic.’ This situation improved, however, with the introduction of steam shipping and good timetables, she says.
So what about conditions on the boats? ’At the beginning of the 19th century, few German boats left for the US. Most emigrants left on British, French or Belgian ships. These were overcrowded and had no cook on board. Each family cooked for itself, but no one knew how much food they’d need for the journey. Most didn’t have enough with them and had no choice but to buy overpriced food from the captain. This was big business for the companies. It’s another reason why many emigrants arrived in the USA with nothing.’
‘In the 1830s some companies began employing a cook, and in Bremerhaven a law stated that only ships with a cook could depart. Another reason Bremerhaven was very popular among migrants was that in the 1840s a special hotel was built – it was cheap and very good.’ Also from the 1840s, she says, the ships got better, because the owners realised they could earn more money from treating migrants well.
As well as offering an experience of what it was like to emigrate from Germany, the Centre has databases to help visitors look up their ancestors. Equipped with a surname and year of departure, visitors can find the ship their ancestors took and begin delving deeper into their German ancestry.
Finally, we asked the head of the German Emigration Centre where in Bremerhaven she likes to go to relax? ’To the wall on the foreshore’, she says without hesitating a second. ’It’s nice, because we’re just two minutes from the river and close to the sea.’
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Sights & Activities
GERMAN EMIGRATION CENTRE
‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,’ invites the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour. Well, Bremerhaven is one place that most certainly did. Millions of those landing at Ellis Island departed from here, and the Deutsches Auswandererhaus (German Emigration Centre; 902 200; www.dah-bremerhaven.de; Columbusstrasse 65; adult/child/concession/family €10.50/6/8.50/26;