Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
April 2022
Newspaper graphic from the year 1882
Historical Context
The trading city of Brody has been a border town since the first partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1772. Previously located in the heart of the Polish-Lithuanian state, the city, which now belongs to Ukraine, is now a periphery and the place where people arrive who are traveling from the Russian Empire to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—or vice versa, the last stop in Austria-Hungary before crossing into the Tsarist Empire. In 1881, Tsar Alexander II is assassinated. This murder is used as a pretext for anti-Semitic slander. Subsequently, pogroms against the Jewish population begin in the areas that today belong to Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
During the time of the pogroms, the number of emigrants significantly increases, even if people do not necessarily come from the cities where the pogroms occur. Many of them pass through the border town of Brody. The number of emigrants eventually decreases over the year, only to massively rise again in the spring of 1882. Since mass emigration had already begun before the pogroms, historians still have differing opinions on the role they played in the emigration. In addition to physical violence, there were discriminatory laws targeting Jews, which restricted their choice of residence and profession. Furthermore, there was a generally difficult economic situation in the Tsarist Empire, which was exacerbated for Jews by these discriminatory laws.
At that time, the press and aid organizations view the emigrants as refugees from the pogroms and discuss in various countries – such as Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, France, and the USA – how best to assist them. An open question is also who should take in how many people and when. On April 23 and 24, 1882, exactly 140 years ago, an international conference of Jewish aid committees takes place in Berlin (“Meeting of the Delegates of the Aid Committees for the suffering Russian Jews”). Its purpose is to clarify who is responsible for which area of assistance. However, the most significant outcome is the formation of an international emigration council from the conference – a network of various aid organizations. In April 1882, the German Central Committee for Russian Refugees (DCC) is also founded in Berlin. It takes care of organizing the transit of Jewish emigrants through the German Empire. Only shortly afterward, further restrictions for the Jewish population in the Tsarist Empire are enacted with the so-called May Laws.
Excerpt from a map of Europe around 1900, marking the city of Brody (blue dot) in the digital copy for illustrative purposes by the DAH; (c) Collection Deutsches Auswandererhaus
Short biography
Meanwhile, the religious historian Moritz Friedländer traveled several times between 1881 and 1882 for the Vienna office of the humanitarian organization Alliance Israélite Universelle to Brody, to organize the emigration of refugees to the USA from there. He recorded his impressions in his book “Five Weeks in Brody” in 1882. He vividly describes the many people who try to organize their onward journey early in the morning. The discussion concerning migrants from the Russian Empire is not only taking place among humanitarian organizations and in politics, but it also receives attention from the population through books like the one by Friedländer or through the press.
Significance of the Object
The object is a page from the “Allgemeine Illustrirten Zeitung” No. 48 from the year 1882. The graphic is an example of how migrants were portrayed by contemporary media. The focus is on the transitional situation in Brody: arrival, accommodation, provision, and onward travel. It is striking that the people are depicted as dejected or emotionally agitated. The accompanying text to the graphic emphasizes, similar to Friedländer, that the city is completely overcrowded. The text also reports on several humanitarian organizations present there. The third image conveys to the readers that the provision in Brody was not only material but also spiritual. This was not coincidental: Brody had had a reputation for Jewish scholarship for decades and a predominantly Jewish population.
During this time, antisemitism is growing not only in the Russian Empire. It is also becoming stronger in the German Empire, along with general prejudices against people from Eastern Europe. Particularly in Prussia, there is a strong effort to accept as few immigrants from the region as possible. Instead, regulations are introduced about how emigrants are transported to the ports in Bremerhaven and Hamburg, so they can continue their journey overseas.
*Why do we use the term ‘Russländisch’ here and not ‘Russisch’?
The Russian Empire (Russ. Rossijskaja Imperija) was, like present-day Russia, a multiethnic state. Historically and even today, the Russian language distinguishes between ethnic Russians (russkij) and citizens of the country, regardless of their nationality (rossijskij). The German translation ‘Russländisch’ reflects this cultural uniqueness and is commonly used in research. The term specifically refers to all people who lived or live in the state – no matter which ethnicity or national group they identified with.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de