Bremerhaven

Founded in 1827, Bremerhaven is a port city (it gained “city” status in 1851) lying on the right bank and estuary of the Weser River in northern Germany. The port is a part of the German state of Bremen.

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the Bremen economy had declined from its Hanseatic glory days. The city suffered from an unfavorable balance of trade with the United States. Ships from the United States brought tobacco and cotton to Bre­men, but because of Bremen’s lack of ex­portable goods, these ships left the port carrying ballast. This arrangement changed drastically after the poor harvests of 1816-1817 triggered the first major emi­gration wave of the nineteenth century. As emigrants traveled to the port in increasing numbers, ship captains realized that they could increase revenue by substituting em­igrants for the ballast. With this, the emi­grant trade had begun.

The rapid growth of emigration posed many social problems for the various Ger­man states. It was far from certain that cities would allow (let alone encourage) em­igration through their gates. Many state governments denounced the new phenom­enon for fear that the emigration would promote the influx of noncitizen paupers who would become charges of the state. The Bremen Senate, however, recognized the economic potential of the emigration trade and acted early. By passing such leg­islation as the groundbreaking Emigration Act of 1832, the Senate took an active role in regulating the quality of emigrant con­ditions. Bremen’s longtime rival upon the Elbe River, Hamburg, would eventually follow Bremen’s example but would never approach Bremen’s dominance.

The clearest example of Bremen’s proactive enhancement of the emigrant trade was the purchase and development of what would become Bremerhaven. At the very onset of the emigration boom, Bre­men had had a serious problem. The Weser River was rapidly silting up. Bremen was in jeopardy of losing its famed key to the world because large ships no longer could reach its docks. The Bremen Senate ini­tially responded by negotiating with the Oldenburg port town of Brake to ship Bre­men goods, but the Oldenburg govern­ment soon stepped in and banned the prac­tice. Realizing that a more stable and permanent solution was necessary, the Bre­men Senate, under the direction of Mayor Johann Smidt, purchased land from the Kingdom of Hanover. After the transaction was completed in 1827, construction began on the new Bremerhaven (or “Bre­men port”) located approximately 40 miles down the Weser from the mother city. On September 12, 1830, the first ship arrived in the new port.

The development of Bremerhaven be­came inextricably linked with European emigration. The city swelled with ship merchants, dockworkers, shipbuilders, sailors, emigration agents, and of course, emigrants. Many of the emigrants had used up all their money in their journey to the port and simply drifted because they could not afford a spot on board the ships. More­over, even the emigrants who had their tickets were often forced to wait in the city, sometimes for months, before embarking on the transatlantic journey. In order to house these emigrants more efficiently, the Senate, in conjunction with the Bremer­haven merchant Johann Georg Claussen, opened the Emigrant House in 1849 (the establishment closed due to financial trou­bles in 1865). The docks were constantly transformed in order to cater to the needs of new ships—especially with the arrival of the steamship. During the 1850s, a new harbor was constructed in order to accom­modate the new, larger ships. Within the next few decades, the steamers from the North German Lloyd shipping line estab­lished a dominance that would last well into the twentieth century.

After the mid-1890s, the socioeco­nomic climate improved in Germany, and the number of German emigrants declined considerably. However, Bremerhaven con­tinued to draw a multitude of emigrants. From the 1880s until World War I, emi­grants from eastern and southeastern Eu­rope moved through the port in increasing numbers. Emigrant accommodations within the city improved with the opening of the Emigrant Halls in 1907. The flow of emigrants slowed to a trickle during World War I but quickly regained its former vol­ume after the restoration of peace. The in­terwar years witnessed not only the contin­ued emigration from eastern and southeastern Europe but also a resurgence of German emigration. During the Nazi era, the port became the exit point for thousands of Jews, who by 1939 accounted for 90 percent of the total emigration stream.

During World War II, much of Bre­men and Bremerhaven was destroyed. After the conclusion of the war, most of the emigrants who moved through Bremen and Bremerhaven were European refugees or displaced persons. This emigration was conducted primarily through the actions of international organizations with the use of foreign ships, not as a part of German trade. By the 1960s, this emigration ceased. Emigration no longer plays a sig­nificant role in the Bremerhaven economy. The city continues to serve as a major Ger­man trading port, however, and also spe­cializes in shipbuilding and the fishing in­dustry.

Kevin Ostoyich

See also German-Speaking Migration to the Americas; Hamburg; Norddeutscher Lloyd

References and Further Reading

Armgort, Arno. Bremen—Bremerhaven—New York: Geschichte der Auswanderung uber die Bremischen Hafen. Bremen: Steintor, 1991.

Engelsing, Rolf. Bremen als Auswandererhafen, 1683—1880. Bremen: Carl Schunemann Verlag, 1961.

Historisches Museum Bremerhaven. http://www.historisches-museum- bremerhaven.de.

Scheper, Burchard. Die Jungere Geschichte der Stadt Bremerhaven. Bremen: J. H. Schmalfeldt, 1977.

Walker, Mack. Germany and the Emigration, 1816—1885. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964.