HAMBURG - PORT OF IMMIGRANT DREAMS
Hamburg Emigration Museum Ballinstadt
Many families in North America can trace their ancestry to the successive waves of immigration from Europe. Seeking religious freedom, escape from famine, war or persecution, the chance for riches or just the dream of opportunity for something better. Before 1850 much of the immigrant ships which carried the hopefuls from Germany and points east embarked from ports in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Bremen. In 1847 the HAPAG shipping line “Hamburg American Packet Company” was founded in the northern Germany port city of Hamburg. Convenient to reach by the Elbe River from the east and by railroad, Hamburg rapidly became the most important emigration port in Germany from 1850 to 1934 and the HAPAG line one of the most successful shipping companies in the world, renamed the Hamburg-America Line in 1893.
Between 1846 and 1857 more than one million Germans emigrated to the United States, mostly small farmers from Southern Germany and farm laborers from Eastern Germany and by 1814, over five million had left, most of them on ships of the Hamburg America Line through the port of Hamburg. In 1901 the shipping line opened an “Emigration City”, a complex of buildings with lodging and dining halls to handle the rush from Eastern Europe, Poland and Russia with room for up to 5,000 immigrants at a time in its halls (Auswandererhallen) waiting for the next ship to America, even including a synagogue for the many Jewish immigrants escaping the Czarist pogroms of Russia.
In 2007 three reconstructed buildings of the former Immigration Halls of the Hamburg-America Line reopened as a museum exhibition dedicated to this past and named for the company’s managing director Albert Ballin who guided it. The BallinStadt Emigration Museum of Hamburg located on Veddel Island in the harbor complex of the Elbe River (see Hamburg
Harbor Cruises) offers photographic displays and records of Hamburg’s part in the immigration story, in both its hopeful and darker sides. For those seeking their ancestral history from a European past whose ancestors left Europe from Poland, the Baltic states, Russia and even Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland between 1836 until 1934, may discover relatives passed through the portals of the HAPAG “Auswandererstadt.
Visitors pass through the three buildings on a trail of discovery, carefully reconstructed with living and sleeping pavilions as immigrants would have experienced them to provide an intimate picture of their lives, a replicated passage ship with cabins and the docks of the arrival in New York, along with historical documents (most all in German) and interactive experience displays. Audio listening stations are provided at the exhibits so the visitor can follow the personal emigration story told first hand, as if having to overcome the obstacles to finding a new life for themselves, moving from stage to stage.
Ancestry Research
While visiting the Ballinstadt Museum, computer research station tied to Ancesry.com are available for use at the end of the exhibits. For travelers on a family roots genealogy journey retracing the steps of European ancestry, a stop in Hamburg may be one of the waypoints. To research whether Hamburg is the route taken by a family ancestor you can contact the “Link to Your Roots” Emigration Research Service operating in cooperation with the City of Hamburg and the Ballinstadt Museum.
Passenger lists are available online for the period between 1890 and 1910. They also provide researchers who will work with you directly for records before 1890 and after 1910 or for more complicated inquiries. Germany’s other major port for immigration after 1830, Bremerhaven, also has an Emigration Center with information of historic and current emigration and offering research services for following family roots. For Rhineland Palatine emigration from the mid 1600's to 1700’s (see Wandering
Immigrants).
Visiting Ballinstadt Hamburg Emigration Museum
Opening times are 10am to 6 pm April to October, 10 am to 4:40 pm November to March. Final admittance is an hour before the closing time Admission prices as €12 for Adults, €7 for Children up to 12 years. There is a Family Ticket available for €26. To get to the Ballinstadt take S3 or S31 trains from the Hauptbahn Station or Altona to the Veddel/Ballinstadt stop. Or by Ferry number 10 from the Landungsbrucke on the Maritime Circle Line. A short walk away from the same stop as Ballinstadt is the Hamburg Harbor Museum.
Ballintour - Port and Emigration Museum
For a more immersive experience The Ballin Tour is a city guided walking tour offered between Easter and October. This combined guided tour with emigrant characters in authentic costumes and harbor boat trip departs from the St Pauli landing stanges on Sundays at 11.15am. The price is €29.50 for adults; children up to 14 years $25 and includes a visit to the Veddel Island Ballinstadt Museum. © Bargain
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Web Info
Ballinstadt Immigration Museum
Bremerhaven
Emigration Center
See Also:
SPEICHERSTADT
HAMBURG'S OLD WAREHOUSE CITY
HAMBURG MINIATURE WONDERLAND - MODEL RAILWAY
INTERNATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM HAMBURG
HAMBURG'S
LANDMARK ST. MICHAELIS CHURCH
FERRY
THE ELBE TO LUCKY CITY
