Visitors are assigned a historical identity at the start of their tour, tracking a real person's emigration story throughout the museum.
The museum is situated at the precise historical location where millions of people boarded ships for North America.
The facility functions as both a museum and a significant genealogy research center.
The collection includes a detailed reconstruction of a third-class cabin from the 1920s.
It was the first museum in Germany to receive the European Museum of the Year Award.
The interactive exhibits allow visitors to look up names of ancestors in historical passenger lists.
The 'Gallery of the Seven Million' documents the departure of emigrants who left through Bremerhaven between 1830 and 1974.
The German Emigration Center is a multi-award-winning museum located at the historic site of Bremerhaven’s Columbus Quay, where over seven million people departed for the New World. The museum focuses on the personal stories of emigrants through high-tech, interactive biographical displays. Visitors receive a boarding pass at the entrance that assigns them the identity of a specific historical emigrant, allowing them to follow that individual's journey through reconstructed steamships and arrival processing centers. The facility expanded in 2012 to include a secondary building dedicated to the history of immigration to Germany. This addition explores the experiences of people moving to Germany from the 17th century to the present. The museum utilizes multimedia installations, audio guides, and authentic artifacts to simulate the departure and arrival conditions of travelers. It remains one of Europe’s most comprehensive centers for genealogical research and migration studies. The architecture includes a modern extension connected by a glass bridge spanning the water's edge.
The glass bridge connecting the two main building wings, offering views over the historic harbor.
Download the museum app in advance to enhance the audio-visual experience.
Prioritize visiting the Immigration wing after completing the Emigration journey to see both sides of the migratory experience.
Allow extra time to search the digital archives for family history records.
Do not attempt to see both the Emigration and Immigration buildings in under two hours, as the depth of the exhibits requires significant time to digest.
Open daily throughout the year, though exhibits occasionally rotate for maintenance.
Photography is permitted for private use; silence is requested in the research archive sections.
