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.
December 2015
Painting by Felix Schlesinger, “In the Passport and Police Office before Emigration” from the year 1859
Historical Context
The creator of the painting, Felix Schlesinger, was part of the Düsseldorf School of Painting. Between 1819 and 1918, this school included more than 4,000 artists who were active at the local art academy or in its vicinity. Under the direction of Wilhelm von Schadow, the academy developed between 1826 and 1859 into the leading German training center for painters. Initially, the artistic focus was on historical painting, later shifting to landscape and genre painting. The latter includes representations of everyday scenes from the broader population. In the tradition of Düsseldorf genre painting, Felix Schlesinger captured scenes with children, their grandparents, and also socially pointed themes. The painting “In the Passport and Police Office before Emigration” was created shortly after the first major wave of emigration when more than 700,000 Germans set out for overseas in the early 1850s. It shows a moment that was existential for every legal emigrant: the issuance of the passport in an office.
Short Biography
Felix Schlesinger was born in 1833 in Hamburg. In 1848, he began his artistic training there with Friedrich Heimerdinger. From 1850 to 1851, Felix Schlesinger attended the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. After a year of study in Antwerp, the young painter returned to Düsseldorf in 1852. There, he took private lessons for two years in the studio of the Düsseldorf genre painter Rudolf Jordan. Several trips subsequently took him to Northern Germany; he worked for a few years in Paris and then moved to Frankfurt from 1861 to 1863. Ultimately, he settled permanently in Munich, where he died in 1910.
Significance of the Object
The image by Felix Schlesinger is a unique socio-historical document. As a special exhibit in the museum collection, which mainly contains life stories, photographs, documents, and memorabilia of emigrants and immigrants, it focuses on a central document: the passport. It was and often still is a prerequisite for entering and leaving a country; during the time of National Socialism, it became crucial along with a visa stamp. If the passport is missing or invalid, the person is forced into illegality.
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