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.
February 2017
Model Ship ‘Potsdam’, Norddeutscher Lloyd (Scale 1:250)
Historical Context
On the initiative of Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann, Bremen merchants founded the Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1857. From the very beginning, the shipping companies exclusively used steamships, transporting goods as well as passengers around the world. By the end of the 1860s, the Norddeutscher Lloyd had become the leading shipping company in Bremen’s shipping industry. Its headquarters remained in Bremen, while the processing of passenger ships took place in Bremerhaven. The port city developed into ‘Lloydstadt’, where at times around half of the population depended on work at Norddeutscher Lloyd. The shipping company owed its great success to the emigration business – by its 50th anniversary in 1907, it had risen to become the world’s leading passenger shipping line.
Short Biography
The turbine ship ‘Potsdam’ was launched on January 16, 1935, at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg and was delivered to Norddeutscher Lloyd in June. The maiden voyage took place shortly thereafter from Bremerhaven to Yokohama/Japan. From then on, ‘Potsdam’ was regularly used for the East Asia service.
The elegantly designed steamer was one of the leading international vessels in this shipping area, yet its economic success, like that of all East Asia fast steamers of the Bremen shipping company, was limited. It had a tumultuous history: in 1940, the 193-meter long and 22.6-meter wide ship served as a residential ship for the Navy, and in 1942 as a troop transport. Later it was equipped again as a residential ship and, after World War II, was used during the evacuation of German refugees from the eastern territories. The ‘Potsdam’ was in service until 1976, sailing first under British and then under Pakistani flag after World War II. In October 1976, it was dismantled in the bay of Gadani/Pakistan.
Significance of the object
Ships were the only means of transport for a journey to the New World until competition arose from air travel in the mid-20th century. Millions of emigrants embarked on sea voyages, depending on the year and financial means, on sailing, steam, or motor ships. Models illustrate developments in shipbuilding, showing the conditions that overseas migration faced during the great emigration periods at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and the impact this had on passengers aboard.
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