German Emigration Center

Between 1830 and 1974 around seven million people left Europe through Bremerhaven, most of them for North America, and the museum stands on the quay they embarked from. Visitors are given a boarding card carrying the identity of one documented emigrant and follow that person's route through reconstructed spaces: the quay at the moment of departure, a steerage cabin, the crossing, the arrival hall at Ellis Island, and the outcome of the life, which was not always success. A second section covers immigration into Germany from the seventeenth century onward. It opened in 2005 and won the European Museum of the Year Award in 2007.

What you actually see

• The boarding card - a real documented emigrant whose story you follow.
• The reconstructed quay - the moment of departure staged at full scale.
• The steerage and crossing - conditions rebuilt from records.
• The immigration section - movement into Germany over four centuries.

When to go

Year-round; the museum closes on some winter Mondays. It is next to the Klimahaus and other Bremerhaven attractions on the same waterfront.

Honest expectations

The route is a fixed sequence taking around two hours. Much of it is reconstruction rather than original fabric. It is emotionally heavy in places.

Nearby

Klimahaus is on the same quay; Bremen lies upriver.