Fittkau, Tanja: From additional cargo to a sought-after customer.
Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven, edition DAH, 2020.
Prize: 26 €
The conditions of crossing for sea travelers and their border experiences 1830 – 1932
The journey as an important part of emigration and immigration. How the conditions during ‘overseas migration’ shaped the migration experiences and trajectories of individuals since the inception of German passenger shipping is the question that historian Dr. Tanja Fittkau addresses in her dissertation ‘From additional cargo to coveted customer. The crossing conditions for sea travelers and their border experiences 1830-1932’. With support from the Deutsches Auswandererhaus Foundation, this elaborate project by the long-standing scientific staff member of the Deutsches Auswandererhaus was published in the ‘edition DAH’.
The individual experience behind a historical event has only been perceived as significant in historiography for a few decades and is still a field of many open questions. Thus, the Deutsches Auswandererhaus promoted the research project that deals with some of these questions in the context of the changes in personal experiences and consequences of overseas migration, closing relevant research gaps over nearly 350 pages. Tanja Fittkau poses timely questions: What significance do material and social conditions of the journey have for the individual and their migration trajectory? And: How should we understand the journey itself as part of migration?
The selection of quotes from the book provides a rare insight into the travel experiences of migrants from 1830 to 1932, who traveled overseas on German ships. They originate from a variety of letters, diaries, and travel reports from the Deutsches Auswandererhaus collection, the Gotha Research Library, as well as archives and libraries across Germany, which were carefully reviewed by Fittkau. The quotes are supplemented and contextualized with information from databases and overseas institutions: ‘Since my studies, I have been interested in the lives of ‘normal’ people, about whom we often read very little. It is their experiences that can reveal how history shaped people and their lives,’ says Fittkau about her research focus.
For a long time, migrants were perceived as live cargo, with the voyage characterized by poor nutrition and hygiene, boredom, and the whims of the ship’s crew. Developments in shipbuilding and the recognition of passengers as paying guests made the journey safer, faster, and more comfortable – significantly changing the experience of crossing the ocean. This is a theme that the historical research of the Deutsches Auswandererhaus continually addresses. However, not everything changes at the same rate: Tanja Fittkau describes how the complex relationship of humans to the sea – particularly the fear, but also the fascination – remains largely unchanged. Despite increasing technical safety on board and decreasing stress factors, such as hunger and confinement, the fear of death at sea persists.