Bremerhaven emigration center

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The emigration center in Bremerhaven around 1850

The emigration center in Bremerhaven was a large historical building that was built in 1849/50 to accommodate and feed emigrants . It later served as a barracks and a brewery. Some parts of the structure that have been preserved are now part of the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences campus .

History of the emigration center

The beginnings

Shortly after the opening of the newly founded Bremer Havens at the mouth of the Weser in the early 1830s, the place under construction developed into an important overseas port and subsequently into the largest emigration port in Europe. Before the departure dates of the emigrant ships, countless people gathered at the port, some of whom had to wait days for their ships to leave, which led to chaotic conditions and exorbitant prices for sleeping quarters. In order to improve the supply and accommodation of the emigrants, the merchant Johann Georg Claussen had Heinrich Müller build a 2900  m² hostel between Geeste and the Old Harbor (on the site of the former fortress town of Carlsburg ) from 1849 to 1850 - the Emigration House .

The brick building in the neo-renaissance style consisted of three wings , each with three floors, which were grouped in a U-shape around an inner courtyard. The four transverse sides of the wing were closed off with stepped gables . The central wing also had a central projectile , which was also provided with a stepped gable and was surmounted by a small rectangular bell tower with a flagpole. Behind the building there were a number of single-storey farm and warehouse buildings. The cornices and window arches were bleached bricks manufactured and stood out sharply from the reddish masonry from. The roofs were dark gray bricks covered.

At the time of its opening, the emigration center was considered an exemplary social institution. The building complex comprised large bedrooms and dining rooms, washrooms, a kitchen, an infirmary and a chapel . It housed 1,500 to 2,000 people. Up to 3,500 people could also be supplied with warm meals - in addition to emigrants, the facility was also used by sailors, shipyard and dock workers. The food and accommodation cost 12  grotes per day, later 15 grotes. The chapel in the tower building of the Emigration Center was up to the consecration of the Great Church in 1855, the only church in Bremerhaven. As the largest building in Bremerhaven (before the completion of the city church), the emigration center was an important sight. Hermann Allmers visited the building and wrote in his book of marches :

"[...] Heinrich Müller [...] created a work in a marvelously short period of time that captivates the eye of the beholder just as much through its size and beauty of its architectural proportions as it draws the expert to admiration through its excellent construction and practical equipment . "

However, the facility soon reached its capacity limits and the overcrowding of the house led to a cholera outbreak in 1853. As a result, the hygienic conditions were improved and an additional building was planned on the ferry road, which was no longer built. With the opening of the Bremen – Bremerhaven railway in 1855, fewer and fewer travelers had to be quartered in Bremerhaven, as they only arrived at the port on the day of their departure. Due to the resulting financial problems, the price for board and lodging in the emigration center was raised to 18 grotes, which, however, could not guarantee the existence of the facility in the long term.

Later use

In 1864 the emigration center was finally closed. In the years between 1850 and 1862 a total of 283,415 people were accommodated here. Initially, the building stood empty for a few years before it was used as a prisoner of war camp and hospital during the Franco-German War of 1870/71 . From 1871 to 1886 it served the Schleswig-Holstein Fortress Artillery Battalion No. 9 as a barracks . Then there was the plan to accommodate the Bremerhaven city administration in the large building, but in 1890 it was sold to the brewery owner Oswald Kroker, who founded the Actien-Brauerei Karlsburg here , which began operations on March 17, 1892. She supplied u. a. the North German Lloyd . In 1900 the brewery in the former inner courtyard of the emigration center between the three wings of the building was enlarged by a two-storey extension for additional production facilities.

During the First World War , the Karlsburg brewery ran into financial difficulties. It was taken over by the Haake-Beck brewery in 1922 . Parts of the brewery's buildings were used as a prison during the National Socialist era , where interrogations and abuse took place and members of the Bremerhaven KPD and members of the Sinti were interned. During the Second World War , the building was severely damaged in a heavy bombing raid on Bremerhaven city center on September 18, 1944, and the south wing of the former emigration center was completely destroyed. Soon after the war, however, the brewery was able to resume operations, and the destroyed south wing was rebuilt in concrete in 1957 . After initially very good business development, the Karlsburg brewery came into a crisis in the 1970s and was closed in 1974. The building was sold to the State of Bremen in 1979 .

What remained

The Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences on the site of the former emigration center

The Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences was established in 1985 on the site of the former emigration center and the surrounding land . Some parts of the building and facade sections of the old building complex were exposed when the brewery was demolished, preserved and integrated into the new building of House K (like Karlsburg ). This included parts of the central tower building and a side wing. The design by the architect Gottfried Böhm for the university building also took up some stylistic elements of the original emigrant house, such as the use of red brick or the arrangement of the windows in the facade facing the gable . On November 9, 1985, the Friends of the German Emigration Museum (today: Freundeskreis Deutsches Auswandererhaus ) placed a bronze plaque on campus reminding of the history of the place:

“The emigration center was built in 1849 on the site of the historic Carlsburg. Many thousands of people spent the last days here before they left Europe. This part of the emigration center was included in the new building of the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences in 1985. "

literature

  • Hermann Allmers : Marschenbuch: Land and people pictures from the marshes of the Weser and Elbe . Scheube Verlag, Gotha 1858, pp. 209-213.
  • Anja Benscheidt, Alfred Kube: Bremerhaven and the surrounding area 1827–1927. History in the Morgenstern Museum, Volume 1 . Nordwestdeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Bremerhaven 1993, ISBN 3-927857-47-5 , pp. 48–52 [with images of several dioramas of the emigration center in the Bremerhaven Historical Museum ].
  • Georg Bessell: History of Bremerhaven. Verlag F. Morisse, Bremerhaven 1927, pp. 361-362.
  • Dieter Strohmeyer: Karlsburg 12-14. Emigration center, barracks, brewery, college. A house tells history and stories. Nordwestdeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Bremerhaven 2000, ISBN 3-933885-05-1 .
  • Christian Petermann: The buildings of the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Verlag für neue Wissenschaften, Bremerhaven 2005, ISBN 3-86509-250-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anja Benscheidt, Alfred Kube: Bremerhaven and surroundings 1827–1927. History in the Morgenstern Museum, Volume 1 . Nordwestdeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Bremerhaven 1993, p. 48 .
  2. ^ A b Anja Benscheidt, Alfred Kube: Bremerhaven and surroundings 1827–1927. History in the Morgenstern Museum, Volume 1 . Nordwestdeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Bremerhaven 1993, p. 49 .
  3. ^ A b c Hermann Allmers: Marschenbuch: Land and Volksbilder from the marshes of the Weser and Elbe . Scheube Verlag, Gotha 1858, p. 210 .
  4. ^ Christian Petermann: The buildings of the University of Bremerhaven . Wirtschaftsverlag NW. Verlag für neue Wissenschaften, Bremerhaven 2006, p. 14 .
  5. ^ Hermann Allmers: Marschenbuch: Land and Volksbilder from the marshes of the Weser and Elbe . Scheube Verlag, Gotha 1858, p. 210 .
  6. ↑ a b c Werfen- und Stadtgeschichte Bremerhaven: The Emigration Center ( Memento from November 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Georg Bessell: History of Bremerhaven . F. Morisse, Bremerhaven 1927, p. 309 .
  8. ↑ Susanne Engelbertz: Local history guide to the sites of resistance and persecution 1933–1945. Volume 6 - Bremen, City of Bremen, Bremen-North, Bremerhaven . VAS, Bremen 1992, p. 116 .

Web links

See also

Coordinates: 53 ° 32 ′ 24.6 "  N , 8 ° 34 ′ 58.6"  E