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.
June 2024
Hymn book, 1894
Historical Context
At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, most of the emigrants leaving Europe via Bremerhaven did not come from the German Empire, but from the eastern neighboring countries – from the Russian Tsarist Empire and from Austria-Hungary. Among the latter is the Strehársky family.
Short Biography
Juraj and Eva Strehársky live in Lalit’ in the region of Vojvodina, where they have three children in the 1890s. Lalit’ is now in Serbia; at that time, it belonged to the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy. The Strehársky family is Slovak and Protestant. Most people living in the village are either Slovak or Serbian, but there are also other ethnic and religious affiliations in the neighborhood.
Jozef Strehársky in the USA
The family of five struggles to make ends meet on the parents’ income. Therefore, father Juraj decides to earn money in the USA for a while. When he returns, the family can buy a plot of land and build a house. Although the family now has their own property, they are not wealthy. In 1906 or 1907, the eldest son Jozef travels first, and later his parents (again) to the USA. The two younger siblings stay behind.
Significance of the Object
The Strehársky family brings this hymn book to the USA and later returns it to Europe. What makes working with objects in the museum so exciting is that objects like this can illuminate and explain many different aspects:
The book is on display in the “Hall of Biographies I” in the permanent exhibition of the DAH
Chronologically, the origin story of the songbook is at the beginning. It tells of the coexistence of different ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups in the Habsburg Empire. A Slovak family buys a Czech book here because it is more readily available (and Czech and Slovak are quite similar).
Next follows the migration history of the book and the parents Strehársky: The book is used to maintain contact with their community in the USA, enabling them to celebrate services within their linguistic and religious community.
Thirdly, the songbook is also an example of the notion that migration should not be seen as a one-dimensional process where one starts at point A and remains at point B forever. The Strehárskys migrate in order to return to their place of origin with better material opportunities. For the parents, this plan will also become reality while the eldest son Jozef decides to live again in the USA after a brief return to Lalit‘.
A little over 100 years later, the object has gained another migration reference: Marta Merkle, the great-granddaughter of Juraj and Eva Strehársky, has herself migrated from Lalit‘ to Germany and now lives in Frankfurt am Main. She donated the songbook to the Deutsches Auswandererhaus. In the museum, it now also serves the function of telling one of the millions of transit stories from Eastern Europe through Bremerhaven.
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