Emigration

We made it to Berlin. It's hot and we're tired so explorations tomorrow. First, though, the terrific museum of German emigration in Bremerhaven, Das Deutsches Auswandererhaus. All of Mrs. C's great grandparents left through this port. Her great grandfather on her father's side, Juergen Kruse, came in 1858, well ahead of the millions that would follow later.

The journey begins dockside in Bremerhaven's harbor, apparently at night to make embarcation all the more frightening.  It continues through steerage accommodations on a ship: cramped, without privacy or anything good to eat. Then into a second class dining room, which looks quite jolly by comparison.

Eventually we arrive at the new world - New York City. My wife's great grandparents got there far before the famous Ellis Island immigration center opened. They would have disembarked at Castle Gardens, now Castle Clinton in New York's Battery Park. (As would my Irish fore-bearers. Unfortunately, we know little about my mother's Polish family.)

Germans spread out across the country. My wife's family farm was outside of Bremen, Kansas, a hamlet of 45. Hanover, with 900 people, was a few miles further away.

The museum's journey ends, appropriately enough, in Manhattan's Grand Central Station. If we had waited around a little longer we could have caught a train to St. Louis.         

Two Harbors And A Camel

After the exhausting Fischmarkt in Hamburg on Sunday we took a harbor tour boat ride. Same thing today in Bremerhaven after visiting the superb museum of German emigration, the Deutches Auswanderer Haus. I had no idea that there was ocean shipping on such a massive scale in these northern German cities. Hamburg is some distance from the North Sea but the Elbe is navagable a long way inland.

The first two pictures are from Hamburg. They may have stolen the second boat from under the Arch. The third, fourth and fifth ships are in Bremerhaven. All of Mrs. C's great grandparents left for America from there. We think the last of the ships has something to do with North Sea oil drilling. Note the helicopter pad.

The last shot has to do with an observation. More ordinary middle-class people in Germany seem to smoke than in the US. That's a surprise, what with national healthcare and all that. People smoke at will in outdoor restaurants and there are cigarette vending machines back by the toilets. Unheard of in the U.S. They do have warnings on advertising. The text in the bottom pic translates literally as "smoking can make you dead."