BIAAS Austro-Americana Blog Series
Historian Allison Schmidt explores the early stages of the migration journey for many Austro-Hungarian emigrants who chose travelling through Saxony as their route to the Americas (ca. 1880-1924). Read about why these emigrants chose this northern route and the interesting complications—some of them gendered—they encountered in two posts.
Emigration Routes – Part I
Excerpt: On November 26, 1908, police in Tetschen (“Děčín” in today’s Czechia) stopped a young man about to cross the border from Habsburg territory into Imperial Germany. The 21-year-old Hungarian, Bernhard Toth, had planned to emigrate to America via Hamburg, yet he did not have the required proof of exemption from military service.
To learn more, visit the BIAAS website.
Emigration Routes – Part II
Excerpt: The Leipzig registration station, opened in 1904, was part of a network of inspections stations that screened overseas-bound emigrants as they crossed Germany en route to port cities. Control stations (Kontrollstationen), which, unlike registration stations, required bathing and disinfection, arose first along the Prussian-Russian border in 1894. It helps to think of them as smaller Ellis Islands.
To learn more, visit the BIAAS website.