Journey To The Midwest: The German Immigration

Journey to the Midwest: The German Immigration

Many German immigrants in 1901 risked everything for a dream of better things in America and the promise of freedom and wealth. Although, when they arrived many realized that the streets were not paved with gold as they had believed, but rather filth. This is the detailed description of why one family left Germany, what happened after they arrived in America, and how they adapted to life in the Midwest.

Momma- I have arrived in America finally. The journey was long and crowded on the boat, but hopeful. I was glad that Wilhelm was here to travel with me. We knew when we had reached America, there was a beautiful statue of a woman and it gave us all hope to see it. She was a great welcome into the country. When we got off the ship, we were ushered to a smaller boat and taken to this beautiful island. The building was large and beautiful. Immediately, men in uniform gave us a stamp on our clothes and we had to stand inline with the other people from our ship. It took all day and we spoke to many people, they asked us questions and looked at our eyes. There was nowhere to sit, so we were very tired at the end of the day. Finally though, we made it through and we are in America! Wilhelm and I are traveling to see papa now. We are so excited to see papa, although the journey to see him maybe long. Momma, please be strong and kiss Heinrich for me. I miss you and pray that I will see you and the family very soon. -Love, Edda

Today, many Germans live throughout the U.S.; especially in the Midwest. More likely then not, they came here in the late 1800's- 1900's. During the 1860's many revolutions took place in Germany and many families experienced the poverty that almost always follows war. In one 20 year span, in the late 1800's, Germany went to war at least 7 times taking on neighboring countries such as: Austria, France, Belgium and Russia. Much money was spent on the war effort in Germany. People were taxed heavily just to buy bullets for the army. Through all this, word was spread like wild fire through Germany that a new country in the west across the water was offering freedom and a promise of happiness for anyone who would make the long journey to the new country: America. Many families thought that America was the only hope for their family to survive. So, they would send one or two members of the family at a time and when enough money was raised, they would send for the rest of the family.

For many, the road to America was a hard one. Most of the immigrants were very poor and had to hitchhike or walk the long miles to the coast just to be able to get on the boat to America. Sometimes it would take months just to save up enough money to pay for rides out of Germany, expensive passports, and to pay for the boat fare and it would take weeks just to go to France where they usually only began the long hard trip to their destination.

By this time there were steam-ships (a better way to America then just regular ships which took 1-3 months to cross the Atlantic) which took only a merciful two weeks to travel the Atlantic. The bad news for the immigrants was that they were expensive and they had to crowd on to each ship; over 500 people over the limit. "Not cleanliness, decency, or comfort, is possible... sometimes two or three thousand persons are crowded into a space hardly sufficient to accommodate 1,200. Steerage passengers can not, with any degree of truth or justice, be said to be humanly or properly treated at any stage of their long journey," said one Report of Conditions.

After about two weeks of pain and misfortune, the many people on these boats glanced across the water and looked at the best thing they had seen in weeks, the Statue of Liberty. A few hours after reaching the Statue they were rushed off of the boat into a place they called Ellis Island. Ellis Island was the main immigration depot to America located just off the coast of New York City. It was a place where thousands of people coming from dozens of countries came through every day. Immigrants were tagged for names and birthdays, etc. and were then marked with chalk if they were thought to have any disabilities of illnesses. If they were passed then they would be interrogated to learn more about their background and to see if they had to be sent back. "They found my grandmother had a black nail. She raised us, all the years, with that hand and with that nail. There was nothing wrong with it. And they held her back. They sent her back. They were stupid, to let an old women with her whole family here to send her back. So we never saw her again, it was heart-breaking," said an immigrant in 1914.

Momma- We have arrived in Illinois! The ride was very long, but the country is so beautiful. There are huge fields of all types. Wilhelm had to protect me from strange men. We had to lie and say that we were married. But it was all worth it, because we are finally here. Papa found us at the train station. Wilhelm went to work with papa in the mines and I have found work taking care of the children of a wealthy family. The youngest reminds me so much of Heinrich. I sing to him all the songs you taught me. I miss you so much. Please tell my friends that I am fine and miss them so much. America has such promise and I love it here. It is so different here. People come from all over, although most of the