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.
January 2021
Newspaper graphic “View of the landing depot for immigrants on Ellis Island before the fire disaster”, published in: “Die Gartenlaube”, 1897
on the occasion of the opening of Ellis Island January 1, 1892
© Initiativkreis Deutsches Auswandererhaus e. V.
Historical context
On January 1, 1892, the largest immigration station in the USA was opened on Ellis Island, a small island off Manhattan; the first registered immigrant was the Irishwoman Annie Moore.
Upon their arrival in New York, passenger ships first docked at the piers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Hoboken, depending on the shipping company. Passengers in 1st and 2nd class were processed directly on board and could leave the ship after a brief medical examination, provided they were healthy and their documents were in order. Passengers in 3rd class, however, who had fewer financial means, were taken by smaller boats to Ellis Island, where medical examinations and official inquiries determined their admission or rejection.
On June 15, 1897, operations on Ellis Island were interrupted by a large fire. Immigration processing had to be temporarily relocated to the Barge Office on the mainland. The station on Ellis Island reopened on December 17, 1900, now equipped with fireproof buildings. The US Immigration Act of 1924 not only reduced the number of immigrants again but also changed the procedure. Investigations of immigrants were now conducted in their respective home countries by employees of the American consulates. This changed the function of Ellis Island. Only if there were problems with the documents, the immigration status was questionable, or medical treatment was required, did they come to Ellis Island.
Fewer and fewer new immigrants reached the island. The work on Ellis Island was also affected during the two World Wars, when the immigration station was temporarily converted into an internment camp and hospital. The facility was finally closed in November 1954.
The Lender
After engaged citizens of Bremerhaven had already come together in 1985 to advocate for the establishment of a museum on emigration history at an authentic location, Bremerhaven entrepreneurs and politicians founded the ‘Initiative Circle Experience World Emigration’ in 1998 to give this purpose greater political emphasis. When the German Emigration Center opened in 2005, the association, which had been renamed to ‘Initiative Circle German Emigration Center e.V.’, handed over to the museum a comprehensive and significant graphic collection that had been assembled over twenty years. It is now part of the permanent loan in the collection of the German Emigration Center.
Significance of the Object
Hardly any other place is as connected to immigration to the USA as Ellis Island. The immigration station on the small island represented the last hurdle on the road to a new life. Here, it was decided for emigrants from all over the world whether they would be granted entry or denied. Between 1892 and 1924, around twelve million immigrants passed through the station – and a few hundred thousand more until its closure. Today, over 40 percent of all Americans can say that their ancestors immigrated through Ellis Island. For decades, Ellis Island represented a crucial point for millions of migration stories. Today, it preserves the memory of this: On September 10, 1990, the ‘Ellis Island Immigration Museum’ was opened here.
Do you also …
… have an emigration or immigration story from your family to tell and wish to pass it on to the Deutsches Auswandererhaus with the accompanying objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau at the phone number 0471 / 90 22 0 – 0 or via email at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de
Archive: Previous Objects of the Month
Show all objectsDo 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