BallinStadt emigration museum

BallinStadt emigration museum Hamburg - darkometer rating : 2 - A museum chronicling the waves of emigration from Europe to the New World, mostly the USA , as well as migration in general. Hamburg was one of Germany 's transit centres for emigrants waiting to embark on their transatlantic journey. The museum is housed in reconstructed red-brick buildings just like those that were actually part of the original emigrants' accommodation centre. It is a dark site inasmuch as the reasons for emigrating are covered, mostly religious persecution and economic hardship, as are maritime accidents that happened, treatment upon arrival in the New World, new hardships faced in their new lives and also a few addenda relating to modern-day refugees worldwide. It is Hamburg's equivalent of the slightly more established German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven – see the A to B comparison text below ! > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > photos More background info: The name of the museum is based on the epithet given to the emigration centre in its heyday, and derives from the name Albert Ballin , general director of one of Hamburg 's major shipping companies, the HAPAG, who played the biggest part in the development of the emigration centre from the late 19th century. Ballin was of Jewish origin, and although he worked his way up into the highest echelons of the maritime business, he wasn't widely accepted. His life ended tragically: at the end of World War One , which had destroyed his life's work, he committed suicide. From 1850 to 1934 some 5 million emigrants in total, about 10% of all European emigrants, passed through the BallinStadt centre on their way to seeking new fortunes overseas.