Emigration Museum Opens

European emigrants boarded ships for the Americas in the search for freedom, tolerance and enough to eat. Between 1850 and 1939 five million Europeans left from Hamburg, most of them headed for the United States.

For the Central and Eastern Europen emigrants who headed for the Americas starting in 1880, the cheapest way to reach the New World was to take a train to the North Sea coast, then board a ship to cross the Atlantic.

Staging area for American adventure

The BallinStadt museum offers visitors replicas of dormitory buildings, using some of the original red bricks, where immigrants stayed before embarking on the long journey to the Americas. Albert Ballin, general manager of the well-known German shipping company HAPAG, built the housing complex between 1901 and 1907.

Ballin, who was Jewish, saw Eastern European Jews as an important customer base. His dormitories had kosher food options. He also provided space for a synagogue as well as a Christian chapel.

The dormitory facility allowed Hapag to keep its customers healthy. It also served as a way to screen those with infectious diseases, who were likely to be barred by US immigration officers at Ellis Island in New York and sent back to Europe at the line's expense.

The hostel's comfort also helped Hamburg get a competitive edge over Bremen and Antwerp for shipping customers. The rivalry continues today. Bremen opened its own emigration museum in 2005. Both cities are trying to develop a tourist industry based on their history as major port towns.

Treasure trove for geneologists

Besides the dormitories, the museum has a multimedia exhibit describes the ordeal poor people went through to reach the Americas and also follows the lives of immigrants once they arrived. The interactive aspect of the exhibit is designed to appeal to young people. There's movie footage, hand-tinted photographs and mannequins who tell emigrants' stories.

The museum is also a treasure trove for genealogists, with digitalized, searchable passenger lists of emigrants who left from Hamburg. An estimated 20 million Americans are direct descendents from the emigrants who left from Hamburg.

The museum's cafe has emigrant-era tables and benches, but serves modern food.

The 12 million euro ($16 million) emigration museum opened for the general public Thursday in Hamburg's Veddel neighborhood where 60 percent of the residents are immigrants, most of them from Eastern Europe and Turkey. The buildings are set in a landscaped area that will double as a public park.