German emigration center

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German emigration center
German Emigration Center Bremerhaven 09-2008.jpg
German Emigration Center, 2008
Data
place World iconCoordinates: 53 ° 32 ′ 43 "  N , 8 ° 34 ′ 27"  E
architect Andreas Heller
opening 2005
Number of visitors (annually) 180000
operator
German Emigration Center gGmbH
management
Simone Blaschka-Eick
Website
ISIL ?
Illuminated globe on the facade of the German Emigration Center at night

The German Emigration Center Bremerhaven is a museum in Bremerhaven. When it opened, it was the first museum in Germany dedicated to the topic of migration . Located at the historical location - Bremerhaven was the largest emigration port in continental Europe between 1830 and 1974 - the award-winning adventure museum presents both European emigration overseas and 330 years of immigration in the midst of faithfully reconstructed exhibition rooms and based on real family storieshistory to Germany. The museum has a collection on the biography, everyday history and mentality of migration since the 17th century. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the German Emigration Center has the option of family research, a cinema, the Migration Studio, in which visitor surveys on the topics of migration and integration are carried out, a recording studio and a museum restaurant.

The historian and migration researcher Simone Blaschka-Eick has been the director and managing director since 2006 .

With an average of 180,000 annual visitors, the German Emigration Center is one of the 3.4 percent of the most visited museums in the Federal Republic of Germany, and since its opening it has also been the most visited museum in the state of Bremen.

Development of the museum

prehistory

Committed citizens of Bremerhaven began working in the late 1970s to build a museum in Seestadt that was to be devoted to the chapter of historical emigration, which was important for their city's history. The “Friends of the German Emigration Museum” founded in 1985 and the “Initiativkreis Erlebniswelt Emigration”, founded in 1998, were particularly committed to the construction of such a house. The Freundeskreis Deutsches Auswandererhaus eV and the “Initiativkreis Deutsches Auswandererhaus” emerged from them.

Opening and expansion

The museum opened on August 8, 2005. It is located at the New Harbor, which opened in 1852, in the area of ​​the Havenwelten Bremerhaven - close to the Zoo am Meer , the German Maritime Museum and the Klimahaus , which opened in 2009 . The design for the museum with a total area of ​​5,451 square meters comes from the Hamburg architectural office Andreas Heller Architects & Designers.

In April 2012 the German Emigration Center was expanded to include a second exhibition complex in which over 300 years of immigration history to Germany are presented. In this context, the first part of the exhibition - on the history of emigration - was expanded to include the aspect of German immigration to the USA since 1683.

realization

The German Emigration Center was conceived as a private-public partnership project. The main building (2005) was financed by funds from the state of Bremen and the city of Bremerhaven. The financial resources for the extension (2012) and the partial renovation of the main building were raised by the federal government, the state of Bremen with the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the operating company. The city of Bremerhaven made the property available. The non-profit-making museum is operated by the German Emigration Center non-profit GmbH.

tour

During their tour through staged exhibition rooms, visitors follow real family stories of migrants. You experience the individual stations of an emigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. Century after. In the second part of the exhibition, visitors see objects, documents and retold life stories of people who have come to Germany since 1685 in a faithfully reconstructed shop pass from 1973.

At the beginning, every visitor receives an RFID ticket (Radio Frequency Identity Technology) with the BoardingPass, which can be used to activate audio and media stations in the exhibition.

emigration

The museum tour is a journey through time that begins in 1870 when the North German Lloyd opened a waiting hall in Bremerhaven. It leads through replicas of a waiting room on board three typical emigration ships from the 1850s, 1880s and 1920s via the US immigration station Ellis Island to Grand Central Terminal in New York.

immigration

The tour on the subject of immigration leads through the second exhibition complex, which opened in 2012. Is based on 15 different migration groups 330 years history of immigration to Germany, including be Huguenot , hiking , seasonal and Foreign and (civil war) refugees and Displaced shown.

  • At the quay

  • 3rd class cabin from 1854

  • 3rd class cabin from 1929

  • Gallery of the 7 million

Collection and research

collection

The focus of the collection on the history of migration in the 17th century is German emigration overseas, international immigration to and national internal migration within Germany as well as European transit migration overseas via German ports (especially Bremerhaven) in the 19th and 20th centuries: collective memory objects , (Memento) objects that accompany and document individual life stories, personal and official documents, media carriers, works of fine art and printed publications.

In addition, the German Emigration Center collects oral testimonies from migrants in its oral history archive - compiled through personal interviews with scientists. Since it opened in 2005, the museum has collected collections of more than 3,000 family stories that are used for research purposes.

It is possible to search for your own emigrated ancestors in the two databases - DIE MAUS and Ancestry.

research

Migration research at the German Emigration Center focuses on the causes of emigration, flight and displacement as well as the process of integration. The historians, social scientists, migration researchers and philosophers deal with questions about biography research, everyday history and the history of mentality . The results of the research projects are incorporated into special exhibitions, publications and documentaries.

"Museum4punkt0"

From 2017 to 2020, the German Emigration Center is a partner in the nationwide joint project museum4punkt0 - Digital strategies for the museum of the future . The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) is funding the three-year project with a total of 15 million euros. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin is in charge. Other network partners are the Humboldt Forum Foundation in the Berlin Palace, the German Museum in Munich, the Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz and the Carnival museums in Langenstein and Bad Dürrheim with other museums of the Swabian-Alemannic Carnival.

As a visionary pilot project, “museum4punkt0” aims to test and develop innovative application possibilities for digital technologies for mediation, communication, interaction and participation in museums and to prepare them for flexible subsequent use.

The German Emigration Center creates and tests new communication concepts for various aspects of migration / integration history and research with elements from mixed reality technology on its website and in its permanent exhibition.

Awards

The German Emigration Center was awarded the prize on 5 May 2007. European Museum of the Year Award ( European Museum of the Year Award awarded EMYA). The European Museum Forum EMF paid particular tribute to the “emotional communication of history through staging”. This is the first time in 15 years that the prestigious award went to a German museum.

A year later, in 2008, the Bremerhaven Migration Museum received the Best in Heritage Award from the European Excellence Initiative of the same name.

Special exhibitions

  • 2019: “I pack my suitcase” Experience migration with children - in cooperation with GEOlino
  • 2018: Caught in War. Powerless. NOSTALGIA. 1914-1921. An experiment with virtual reality
  • 2017/18: »… Good Music…« Two German Musicians in America 1880–1939 (with catalog)
  • 2017 - 19: From Revolutionary to mayor. The turbulent life of Georg Friedrich Abel 1928–1902 (with catalog)
  • 2016: German and Jewish - in cooperation with the Leo Baeck Institute New York / Berlin
  • 2016: Suddenly there ... German supplicants 1709, Turkish neighbors 1961 (with catalog)
  • 2015 - 17: "Truly yours, Mark Twain." How an emigrant from Bremerhaven freed Mark Twain from toothache
  • 2014/15: Displaced Persons. Holocaust survivor 1938–1951
  • 2014/15: From the Luther Bible to the crook story. Books for German immigrants in America 1728–1946 (with catalog)
  • 2013/14: Germans in Australia 1788 - today (with catalog)
  • 2012/13: Dining while traveling. Children invent “immigration recipes” - in cooperation with GEOlino
  • 2012/13: The Yellow Note - Girls trafficking 1860 to 1930 (with catalog) - in cooperation with the Foundation New Synagogue Berlin, Centrum Judaicum
  • 2011: To New York : “We didn't know anyone in Hamburg” - emigrants and returnees from Amrum and Föhr (with catalog)
  • 2011: Beastly far away! Children invent emigrant animals - in cooperation with GEOli no
  • 2010/11: Sausage Festival. The largest German folk festival in America
  • 2010: off into space. Children emigrate to distant worlds - in cooperation with GEOlino
  • 2010: on the run. Seven journeys through life to Germany 1980–2010
  • 2009: How do humans protect themselves from the forces of nature? - in cooperation with GEOlino
  • 2009: Escape after the flood. New Orleans - the emigrated city
  • 2008/09: Lena. Portrait of a German-Russian emigration 2003–2008
  • 2008: I pack my suitcase ... - in cooperation with GEOlino
  • 2008: To Buenos Aires ! German emigrants and refugees in the 20th century (with catalog)
  • 2007: Stangen's Party. The first German package tour to the New World
  • 2007: Hope - the second soul of the unfortunate?
  • 2006/07: Felix Schlesinger's “In the passport and police room before emigration” (1859). Story of an image
  • 2006: 32x global. Football and migration: the 2006 World Cup national teams
  • 2006: Augustus F. Sherman . Ellis Island Portraits 1905-1920
  • 2006: Pacific Palisades. Ways of German-speaking writers into exile in California 1932–1941 (with catalog)

Library

On August 8, 2013, the German Emigration Center opened an extensive library with specialist literature on the history of migration. The library on the history of German immigration and emigration is housed in the Max Kade Hall of the historic Bremerhaven Maritime Administration - directly opposite the museum. The reference library comprises more than 5,000 volumes: anthologies, encyclopedias, emigrant guides and monographs from Germany, the USA and South America.

Movies

The German Emigration Center has produced four of its own short films, which are shown alternately in the in-house "Roxy-Kino":

  • Welcome Home (2005): Short documentary on German immigrants and their descendants in the USA - awarded the title “particularly valuable” by the Wiesbaden film evaluation office
  • 24h Buenos Aires (2008): Short documentation about German immigrants and their descendants in Argentina
  • DOWN UNDER (2013): Short documentation about German immigrants and their descendants in Australia
  • German-Turkish LOVE (2015): “Road movie” about German-Turkish lovers and how they dealt with the partner's initially “foreign” culture - awarded the title “particularly valuable” by the Wiesbaden film evaluation office

Publications

  • From revolutionary to mayor. The eventful life of Georg Friedrich Abel 1828–1902 , cabinet brochure 02, publisher: Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven: edition DAH, 2018, ISBN 978-3-9817861-5-6
  • From the Luther Bible to the crook story. Books for German immigrants in America 1728–1946 , cabinet brochure 01, publisher: Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven: edition DAH, 2018, ISBN 978-3-9817861-4-9
  • Turn fear into curiosity. The Migration Forum at the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven: Evaluation, oral history and communication of interculture , publisher: German Emigration Center Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven: edition DAH, 2017, ISBN 978-3-9817861-2-5
  • >>… GOOD MUSIC… << Two German musicians in America 1880–1939 , edited by Simone Blaschka-Eick and Christoph Bongert, Bremerhaven: edition DAH, 2017, ISBN 978-3-9817861-3-2
  • The book for the Museum of Emigration and Immigration (new edition of the catalog for the German Emigration Center), ed. by Simone Blaschka-Eick, Bremerhaven 2017, ISBN 978-3-9817861-1-8
  • Suddenly there. German supplicants 1709, Turkish neighbors 1961 , edited by Simone Blaschka-Eick and Christoph Bongert, Bremerhaven 2016, ISBN 978-3-9817861-0-1
  • Dieter Strohmeyer, The Ahronheims. A Bremerhaven family history from 1930 to today , ed. by Simone Blaschka-Eick, Bremerhaven: edition DAH 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-044857-7
  • Germans in Australia. 1788 - today , ed. by Simone Blaschka-Eick, Bremerhaven: edition DAH 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-044574-3
  • Irene Stratenwerth , Esther Sabelus; Simone Blaschka-Eick, Hermann Simon (Eds.): The Yellow Note: Girls trafficking 1860 to 1930. German Emigration Center, Bremerhaven 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-038801-9 . (on the exhibition: The Yellow Note - Girls trafficking 1860 to 1930. Centrum Judaicum, Berlin, August 9 to December 30; German Emigration Center, Bremerhaven, August 26 to February 28, 2013)
  • Heike Götz , Christiane Greve , Our city was New York: Friesen in Amerika , ed. by Simone Eick and Katrin Quirin, Bremerhaven: edition DAH, 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-035787-9
  • Simone Blaschka-Eick, Karin Heß (Ed.): Escape stories: From and to Germany. Biographies and backgrounds 1933–2011 . German Emigration Center, Bremerhaven 2012, ISBN 978-3-9817861-1-8
  • Simone Eick, To Buenos Aires! German emigrants and refugees in the 20th century , Bremerhaven: edition DAH, 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-023793-5
  • Pacific Palisades - Ways German-speaking writers into exile in California 1932–1941 , publisher: Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven 2006.

Kalliope Prize for practical migration research

On the occasion of the tenth birthday of the German Emigration Center, the German Emigration Center Foundation launched the Kalliope Prize for practical migration research . The prize was awarded for the first time together with the museum in 2015. The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and is awarded every two years. It was donated by Joachim Ditzen-Blanke, editor of the Nordsee-Zeitung . The prize money has been 20,000 euros since 2019.

The five-person jury consists of three permanent and two external jury members, each to be newly appointed: The permanent jury members include the chairman of the board of directors of the German Emigration Center, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the German Emigration Center and the director of the German Emigration Center. In 2015, Bernd M. Scherer, General Manager of the House of World Cultures , and Christine Langenfeld , Chair of the Advisory Council of German Foundations for Integration and Migration, Berlin, were external members . In 2017, Hermann Parzinger , President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin, and the ARD journalist Constantin Schreiber were represented on the jury.

Award winners

Friends and sponsors

German Emigration Center Foundation

The German Emigration Center Foundation is a foundation under civil law based in Bremerhaven. It was founded in 2006 by the Initiativkreis Erlebniswelt Emigration e. V., representatives of the Bremerhaven economy, the operating company of the German Emigration Center and the city of Bremerhaven, to support the German Emigration Center in large research and exhibition projects and to anchor it internationally.

The foundation pursues charitable purposes and supports the Migration Museum in acquiring exhibits on the subject of migration, expanding the collection and processing it scientifically, publishing research results, expanding its archive and library and realizing exhibition projects.

Since 2015, the foundation has been awarding the Kalliope Prize for practical migration research every two years together with the Emigration Center.

Initiativkreis Deutsches Auswandererhaus e. V.

The “Initiativkreis Erlebniswelt Emigration” founded in 1998 by local entrepreneurs - today “Initiativkreis Deutsches Auswandererhaus e. V. “- gave increased emphasis to the goal of founding an emigration museum in Bremerhaven, especially in politics. The association consists of 19 Bremerhaven companies that support the German Emigration Center on a project basis.

Friends of the German Emigration Center V.

The association, founded in 1985, has acquired a collection of graphics over the past few decades and compiled the basis for the library on the history of German immigration and emigration. This was built in 2013 in the historic Maritime Office. Every year the Freundeskreis also organizes a series of lectures with recognized experts, as well as concerts, readings and film screenings that have to do with the history of German migration.

See also

literature

  • Joachim Baur, Expo review: A different kind of migration museum. The German Emigrant House in Bremerhaven. In: Workshop history. 15, 2006, No. 42, pp. 97-103. ( online , PDF, 190 kB)
  • Simone Blaschka-Eick, Julie Penzel-Althoff: German Emigration Center, Off Into the World; the book on the German Emigration Center . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. DAH, Bremerhaven 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028384-0 (German and English)
  • Simone Blaschka-Eick: To the New World! German emigrants in three centuries . Rowohlt-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-498-01673-9

Movies

Web links

Commons : German Emigration Center  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German Emigration Center extends article from April 22, 2012, Federal Government website. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Sönke Möhl: Europe's first migration museum. In: Hamburger Abendblatt April 20, 2012
  3. ↑ according to the Institute for Museum Research Berlin
  4. ^ Statistics from the Senator for Culture of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
  5. ^ German Emigration Center Website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  6. ↑ Andrea Jeska: Ahoi-Brause instead of Sunday hat In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung April 22, 2012
  7. ^ Website of the German Emigration Center . Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  8. ^ Till Briegleb: Kindly please In: Süddeutsche Zeitung April 24, 2012
  9. ↑ Andrea Jeska: Migration and Background In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, August 21, 2011
  10. ^ German Emigration Center: Collection website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  11. ^ German Emigration Center: Research website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  12. ^ Culture for everyone website of the federal government. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  13. ↑ Start of the nationwide pilot project museum4punkt0 project website. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  14. ↑ museum4punkt0 at the German Emigration Center website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  15. ^ German Emigration Center: Awards website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  16. ^ Library for the history of German immigration and emigration Website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  17. ↑ Press release Welcome Home Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  18. ↑ Press text German-Turkish LOVE Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  19. ↑ The German Emigration Center and the German Emigration Center are awarding a prize worth 10,000 euros for the first time
  20. ↑ Kalliope Prize of the German Emigration Center Foundation
  21. ↑ “Kalliope” Prize endowed with 20,000 euros for the first time
  22. ↑ Kalliope Prize for practical migration research Website of the German Emigration Center. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  23. ^ Foundation German Emigration Center Website of the foundation. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  24. ↑ German Emigration Center Foundation
  25. ↑ a b "ROOTS" - supplement of the Nordsee-Zeitung, August 2015, p. 14