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In all cases we have filmed the best available copy. University Micrcrilms International 8222140 Nad ell, Pamela Susan THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA BY STEAM: THE JEWS OF EASTERN EUROPE IN TRANSITION The Ohio State University Ph.D. 1982 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, M I 48106 Copyright 1982 by Nadell, Pamela Susan All Rights Reserved THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA BY STEAM: THE JEWS OF EASTERN EUROPE IN TRANSITION DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Pamela Susan Nadell, A. B . , M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1982 Reading Committee: Approved By Dr. Marc Lee Raphael Dr. Marvin Zahniser i I O Dr. Mansel Blackford I Adviser | Department of History k ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While an outside observer might think that writing a disser­ tation in the humanities is a solitary exercise, I now know that no project of this magnitude is ever completed without the aid of many others. In this case several generous awards assisted me with this work. I wish to thank the American Jewish Archives whose fellowship enabled me to spend a summer researching, writing, and enjoying the company of the fellows of the Archives and the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, I gratefully acknowledge travel grants from the Melton Center for Jewish Studies and the Graduate School of The Ohio State University. To thank by name all the people who assisted me during these past years is impossible. My former teachers helped shape my thought. I hope that this work reflects proudly on their efforts and commitment. I am also grateful to my many friends and fellow graduate students whose companionship immeasurably enriched my years at The Ohio State University. That I thank only two individuals by name should, I believe, reflect their measure of importance to me. No words can fully express my gratitude to my graduate adviser, Professor Marc Lee Raphael. His scholarship, thought, and willingness to correspond II at length from the exciting places that his career has led him gently molded and judiciously guided me during these past years. I trust that the rite of passage marked by this dissertation in no way indicates that all that I have to learn from him is at an end. And last, and most importantly, I wish to thank my husband, Dr. Edward Farber, whose love sustained me throughout this work. iii VITA December 13, 1 9 5 1 ............. Born - Newark, New Jersey 1973............................. A.B., Douglass College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey 1976.............................M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1975-1981 ...................... Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "The Journey to America by Steam: The Jews of Eastern Europe in Transition." American Jewish History, Volume LXXV, Number 2, December, 1981, pp. 269-84. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Modern Jewish History Ancient and Medieval Jewish History. Professor Robert Chazan M o d e m European History. Professor John Rothney American Jewish Literature. Professor Arnold Shapiro iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................. ii VITA................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION..................................................... I Chapter I. U.S. STEERAGE LEGISLATION: THE PROTECTION OF THE EMIGRANTS EN ROUTE TO AMERICA......................... 10 II. FROM SHTETL TO BORDER: THE AGENTS......................... 45 III. THE LAND ARRANGEMENTS: THE EMIGRANTS-IN-TRANSIT THROUGH GERMANY............................................. 86 IV. THE LAND ARRANGEMENTS: THE PORT C I T I E S ................. 144 V. THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA BY STEAM: STEERAGE............... 180 CONCLUSION......................................................... 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................... 238 v INTRODUCTION Migration has been and remains one of the central themes of Jewish history. Biblical scholars trace the wanderings of the Ancient Israelites. Medieval Jewish historians focus on the ex­ pulsions of the Jews from Western Europe. Modern Jewish historians examine the demographic shifts that led to the creation of new Jewish communities in Palestine, South America, and the United States. Even in this last quarter of the twentieth century, signi­ ficant changes in the distribution of world Jewry have occurred, as Soviet Jews fled to Israel and America, and as large numbers of Israelis settled In the United States and Canada.^ In the past these demographic shifts shaped the very fabric of Jewish history. Migrations contributed to the decline or disappear­ ance of major Jewish communities, while they facilitated the emergence of entirely new and important Jewries. After the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judeans who laid the foundations for the subsequently vital and creative Babylonian Jewish community. A handful of Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal at the end of the fifteenth century, paved the way for the re-emergence of Jewish communities in Western Europe in the early modern era. And the migration of the Jews from Eastern Europe in the wake of nineteenth and twentieth century violence, poverty, and traditional anti-Jewish sentiment built the American Jewish communi ' into the pre-eminent world Jewry of the post-Holocaust period. - 2 - 3 When scholars have studied this latter migration, they have focused their attention on one of two topics — either the forces that compelled the emigration or the cultural shock and adjustment that these immigrants made to America. One subject, however, has remained relatively unexplored; that is, a study of the journey that the East European Jews made from the old world to the new. Typical histories of the East European Jewish emigration have either ignored or included limited discussions of this transmigration. Yet, surely the phenomenon of some 2,000,000 Jews, by and large inexperienced in transcontinental travel, crossing half the globe deserves more consideration than a simple notation of the accomplished population 2 transfer. In fact, the subject of migration suggests numerous questions. How did these emigrants actually get from Russia or Austria or Hungary to America? What happened to them on the way? What kinds of accommodations did they find? What was the impact of the laws of their native lands, of the countries over which they traveled, and of the United States? How did this migration affect the countries of transmigration? What assistance did these Jewish emigrants receive from their western co-religionists? And most certainly, what impact did this journey which bridged the old and new worlds, have upon this traditional community. This study con­ siders these issues as it documents the migration of the East European Jews in the years 1868-1914. 4 The multi-national and broad cross-cultural sweep of this migration makes this a complex subject. The East European Jews formed but a part of the mass migration from Eastern and Southern Europe that began in the latter half of the nineteenth century. As with any minority history, it has proven both impossible and general­ ly undesirable to isolate at all times the behavior patterns of the Jewish emigrants-in-transit from those of other emigrants. This demographic shift impinged not only upon the countries of emigration and immigration, but also upon the countries of transmigration. The emigration