Hapag halls

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Coordinates: 53 ° 52 '  N , 8 ° 43'  E

facade
1: Dome hall
2: Hapag tower
3: Customs hall
4: “Covered corridor”
5: Steubenhöft

The Hapag halls are a historic, listed building ensemble in the port of Cuxhaven in Lower Saxony . Today it serves as a fully functional passenger terminal for cruise ships and is one of the last authentic, still-preserved places of emigration .

description

The Hapag halls today consist of the domed hall, the Hanseatic hall, a platform with associated track systems, the customs hall and the “covered corridor” as well as the striking 37 meter high Hapag tower. In the past there was also a large baggage hall and two apartments for the station master and the local shipping company inspector. In the 50s / 60s there was also a travel agency and a post office.

history

Dome hall with chandelier and sawfish, 1904
Motto My field is the world above the entrance to the Hapag hall, until 1953
Special trains in the America station , before 1960

After the shipping company HAPAG, under the direction of Albert Ballin, discovered that the port of Hamburg was unsuitable for the increasingly large emigrant ships calling at, and also in order to save the trip on the Elbe , they gradually shifted from 1889 onwards America traffic to what was then Cuxhaven in Hamburg . Especially since with the completion of the Lower Elbe Railway from Hamburg-Harburg to Cuxhaven in 1881, an inexpensive and comfortable means of transport was available for the cabin passengers.

What was required, however, were adequate port facilities (construction of the so-called New Harbor 1891–1896, new mooring - later Steubenhöft - from 1904) and a new, high-performance handling system, which later became the so-called Hapag halls with a port station , "electrical center", post office and seaman's office. The architect Georg Thielen, who previously made a name for himself in the interior fittings of Hapag ships such as B. who had made Germany . The building complex was built between 1900 and 1902.

The sophisticated, 690 square meter domed hall was reserved exclusively for 1st and 2nd class passengers arriving on Hapag's own special trains from Hamburg without stopping. From the platform they immediately entered the domed hall and waited there for their clearance. The tween deck passengers were brought to Cuxhaven by ship from the emigration halls in Hamburg-Veddel (now known as Ballinstadt ). The second hall (now called the Hanseatic Hall, only 350 square meters in size) was intended for them. The two halls could not be heated. However, they were proud of the electric lamps in the chandelier in the domed hall, which was decorated with a sawfish . The street-side entrance to the domed hall was provided with a sweeping portal until 1953, on which Albert Ballin's motto, Mein Feld ist die Welt, was clearly emblazoned.

The border clearance of passengers and luggage took place in the attached customs hall. Afterwards, the cabin passengers were able to get to the mooring via the "covered corridor" without getting their feet wet (from 1910).

The logistical services to be provided in the Hapag halls and at Steubenhöft before the departure of an ocean liner were enormous, especially before the beginning of the First World War. The reason was the will of the shipowners to be ahead of the competition with ever larger ships, if possible with the largest ship in the world.

Passenger and crew numbers of some ships handled at Steubenhöft:

Ship name first arrival / departure in Cuxhaven Passport. 1st Class Passport. 2nd Class Passport. 3rd grade Between deck pass. crew total
Augusta Victoria May 9, 1889 400 120 580 245 1345 
Emperor June 11, 1913 908 606 962 1772 1180 5428 
Albert Ballin July 5, 1923 183 216 928 415 1752 
Italia March 24, 1952 140 1150 - - 340 1630 
Hanseatic July 20, 1958 85 1170 - - 474 1729 

After the end of the First World War with the Versailles Peace Treaty , it was no longer possible to match the previous emigration figures. In 1929 124,000 people traveled in and out of the Hamburg ports. 74,000 of these boarded or disembarked at Steubenhöft and were transported between Hamburg and Cuxhaven with special express trains, including numerous emigrants .

After the Second World War, ship movements at Steubenhöft were initially limited to the return of German prisoners of war (the Hapag halls were already used as transit camps after the First World War). In the opposite direction, around 28,000 (1948–1950) Displaced Persons (DPs) sought a new home in Canada.

Even when Cuxhaven became Prussian in 1937 as a result of the Greater Hamburg Act , the Amerikahafen and thus the Hapag halls as well as the Steubenhöft remained Hamburg. That changed on February 5, 1992, when Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Gerhard Schröder and Hamburg's First Mayor Henning Voscherau signed a state treaty for the transfer to Lower Saxony.

Todays situation

The Hapag halls and the Steubenhöft are currently only used to a limited extent as handling terminals for cruise passengers. The platform and tracks are fully functional (official name: Cuxhaven-Amerikabahnhof) and are occasionally used by special trains. Kuppelsaal, Hanseatensaal and Zollhalle offer space for events such as exhibitions, festivals, conferences and concerts.

literature

  • Horst Koperschmidt: "It's around the corner to America". To emigrate via Cuxhaven. In: Karin Schulz (ed.): Hope America. European emigration to the New World. Bremerhaven 2008, ISBN 978-386509-834-4 , pages 81-90.
  • 100 years of Hapag halls. The historic harbor ensemble is celebrating its birthday. In: CUXjournal, supplement to the Cuxhavener Nachrichten , No. 74 from February 2002.

Web links

Commons : Hapag-Hallen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ North Sea Spa Cuxhaven - Harbor & Culture - Maritime & Museums - Hapag-Hallen , accessed on August 27, 2013.
  2. ↑ Hans-Otto Schlichtmann: The Lower Elbe Railway Harburg-Stade-Cuxhaven. Stade 2007, ISBN 978-3-933996-29-9
  3. ↑ Cuxhavener Tageblatt May 10, 1889
  4. ↑ Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping, Volume 1: The Pioneering Years from 1850 to 1890 , Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-8225-0037-2 , p. 188
  5. ^ Cuxhavener Zeitung June 11, 1913
  6. ^ Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping, Volume 4: Destruction and Rebirth 1914 to 1930 , Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0047-X , p. 17
  7. ^ Cuxhavener Zeitung July 5, 1923
  8. ↑ Arnold Kludas: The history of German passenger shipping, Volume 4: Destruction and rebirth 1914 to 1930 , Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0047-X , p. 64
  9. ↑ Cuxhavener Zeitung March 25, 1954
  10. ↑ Kungsholm (II) / Italia 1928 - 1965 ( Memento of October 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 27, 2013
  11. ^ Cuxhavener Zeitung July 21, 1958
  12. ↑ Rainer Heinsohn; Walter Vehrs: TS "Hanseatic": the story of a "beautiful woman from Hamburg" , Cuxhaven 1988, ISBN 3-920709-21-7
  13. ↑ Horst Koperschmidt: It's around the corner to America. - On emigration via Cuxhaven, in: Karin Schulz (Ed.): Hope America - European Emigration to the New World, Bremerhaven 2008, ISBN 978-386509-834-4 , p. 87
  14. ^ Text of the America Port Treaty

Remarks

  1. ^ Only with effect of the Greater Hamburg Law on April 1, 1937, the centuries-long affiliation of the Ritzebüttel (later Cuxhaven) to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg ended.
  2. ^ With the Augusta Victoria , Albert Ballin started the first luxury cruise in shipping history on January 22nd, 1891; Starting point: Cuxhaven roadstead.
  3. ↑ No 3rd class available.
  4. ↑ At that time the (!) Imperator was the largest ship in the world.
  5. ↑ Tween deck abolished.
  6. ↑ When the Italia was dispatched, the new Steubenhöft was inaugurated on May 17, 1954.
  7. ↑ On March 25, 1952, the Italia (rebuilt Kungsholm from 1928) resumed liner service to and from New York.
  8. ↑ On July 20, 1958, the Hanseatic (rebuilt Empress of Japan from 1930) was the first ship after the war under the German flag on the traditional route from Cuxhaven to New York City (until 1966).