Unspecified/General

Between 1850 and 1939, Hamburg was the gateway to the world for more than five million Europeans who passed through the port on their way to new lives, most of them bound for the United States, and the BallinStadt emigration museum tells their story at the very place from which they sailed. It stands on the Elbe island of Veddel, in three reconstructed buildings that recreate the emigrant halls built here from 1901 by Albert Ballin, the visionary director of the HAPAG shipping line. Faced with overcrowding and disease as poor migrants from across eastern and central Europe waited in the city for their ships, Ballin created a self-contained settlement, a town within the city, complete with dormitories, dining halls, washing facilities, a hospital, a church and a synagogue, where travellers could be housed, fed and medically checked before departure, both a humane measure and a shrewd commercial one. Ballin himself, of Jewish origin and one of the most important figures in Hamburg's history, rose to the heights of the shipping world yet was never fully accepted, and took his own life at the end of the First World War as it destroyed his life's work. The museum, which opened in July 2007 and was enlarged and reopened in 2016, now spreads its interactive exhibition over some 2,500 square metres, following migration across four epochs from the sixteenth century to the present and inviting visitors to share the hopes, fears and dreams of people leaving home in flight from poverty, war and persecution or simply in search of a better future. A family-research centre lets visitors search passenger lists for emigrant ancestors, a popular draw for descendants from across the Americas. With cafe, shop and changing special exhibitions, and reached easily by S-Bahn from the city centre, BallinStadt offers a moving and timely meditation on a subject as relevant now as it was a century ago. Audio guides and bilingual displays make the exhibition accessible to international visitors, many of whom come specifically to trace emigrant ancestors through the searchable passenger records. Reached in a few minutes by S-Bahn from the central station, it pairs naturally with a wider exploration of Hamburg's maritime and harbour history.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Veddeler Bogen 2, Hamburg, Germany

Website: https://www.ballinstadt.de

Opening Date: 01/07/2007