Felicity Long
To say that immigration has become a hot topic in the U.S. and in Europe is an understatement, but for many, the focus on foreign nationals seeking entry to a new country often overlooks the other side of the coin: emigration. Why do people leave their home countries to embark on often-difficult journeys into the unknown?
The German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven, a hugely popular interactive attraction that opened in 2012 and draws some 2 million visitors a year, is poised for a major expansion that will focus on migration issues through the lens of Germany's own difficult history.
After all, of the 7.2 million or so German and Eastern European families who departed for the New World from Bremerhaven since the opening of the city's first harbor in 1830, hundreds of thousands were Eastern European Jews fleeing the Nazi regime, according to Monika Grutters, minister of state for culture and media, in discussing the expansion.
"The history of emigration and immigration was and is part of our German history. It is important that museums reflect this," she said, adding, "This is something to remember when we talk about migration today. A look into history teaches us to better understand the present."
I visited the museum in 2014 and was struck both by the power and immediacy of the exhibition -- in which visitors board a ship, have a virtual experience of the journey and arrive in an approximation of Ellis Island -- and by its focus on emigrants who predated the exodus prompted by the run-up to WWII. The expansion will renew focus on that dark period of history.
The expansion will also include a new exhibition room designed to showcase migration conflicts throughout history and up to the present, which have ignited topics such as housing, equal pay and social and cultural equality.
Museum visitors can look at a particular issue along a timeline: looking at how similar conflicts were dealt with 70, 50 and five years ago, with the aim of seeing which solutions worked and which have not.
The exterior of the expansion, which will depict portraits of immigrants or their descendants in a kind of mosaic, is being designed by Andreas Heller Architects & Designers of Hamburg.
Another new exhibition room will be dedicated to the history of immigrant families and their lives in Germany and will feature memorabilia from their old and new homelands.
A new Pop Up Museum, whose exhibition area will resemble a garage facing the street, will offer temporary exhibits on current migration topics and will be open free of charge.
The reorientation of the museum will also include the founding of the Academy of Comparative Migration Studies, which will promote museum education for children, youths and adults and will also serve as an institute for migration research. Supported by the German Emigration Center Foundation, the academic researchers at the Center will work with universities on historical and comparative migration issues.
"We are in a situation where many see a crisis of democracy in coping with social issues such as migration," said Simone Eick, the director of the German Emigration Center, at the presentation of the expansion concept. "We want to encourage our visitors to form an opinion through discussions based on facts and fair treatment of controversial positions."
Melf Grantz, mayor of Bremerhaven, who provided the museum with the land for the extension, said, "The German Emigration Center is a cultural tourist beacon in Bremerhaven with national appeal and one of the best-visited museums in the Federal Republic. By supporting the German Emigration Center, the city sets an example and offers a highly current topic to a broad audience."
The expansion, which will cost an estimated $13 million, is expected to be completed by spring 2021, and the museum will remain open during the redo.