Andreas Ratzlaff family emigration; train to Germany

In late 19^th and early 20^th century, the vast majority of European emigrants leaving the continent for America travelled through and departed from Germany.  Most of these travelled via the main German shipping lines of Nord-Deutscher Lloyd, based in Bremen, Germany, and the Hamburg-America Line, based in Hamburg, Germany.  By the early 20^th century, quite a bit of infrastructure was in place to assist the immigrants on their trip. 

Immigrant stations, sponsored by the German shipping lines, were located at several locations along the German frontier.  At these stations, immigrants would be processed for travel and board trains bound first for Berlin, Germany, and then either Bremen or Hamburg.  These immigrant stations were positioned at strategic points along the frontier where immigrants from Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary, the Baltic States, etc, could easily reach them.  Stations included locations at Bajorham, Tilsit, Eydtkuhnen, Insterburg and Prostki along the Baltic frontier; Ilowo, Posen, Ostrow and Soslowice along the Polish-Russian frontier; and Myslowitz, Ratibor and Leipzig along the Austro-Hungarian frontier.  The Ratzlaff Party, having successfully crossed the Russian – Austro-Hungarian border, would have made one of these immigrant stations their destination. 

Arriving at Brody, Austria-Hungary, the party would have acquired train tickets to get to Lemberg (today know as L’viv or L’vov).  Lemberg was a very large city at the turn of the century.  The central railway depot was brand new in 1904 and would have seemed tremendously imposing to foreign immigrants:

After passing through Lemberg, the Ratzlaff party would have been bound for Krakow (Cracow) via Przemysl, Jaroslau, Rzeszow, Tarnow and Buchnia:

The railway station at Krakow:

At Krakow, the party would have needed to make a decision about which immigrant station they would use.  At that time, stations were positioned along the Austro-Hungarian – German frontier at Myslowitz (Myslowice) and Ratibor (Racibor), as well as Leipzig.  The station at Myslowitz would have been more direct; Myslowitz lay at the junction of the Russian – Austro-Hungarian – German border.  Since the party had been smuggled out of Russia, I can imagine they would have wanted to avoid contact with the Russian border at all costs.  If a Russian officer would have reviewed the Ratzlaffs’ travel documents, they may have been detained or made to return to Volhynia. 

Ratibor, on the other hand, was a little farther away and the train fare may have been a bit more expensive.  Nevertheless, they would have safely avoided the Russian frontier by going to Ratibor.  Unfortunately, documentation does not exist and we will probably never know of their exact route.  Leipzig, however, was probably not an option since that city is quite a bit farther west than they were headed at that point.  It may be interesting to note that the Ratzlaff party may have considered themselves German or even Dutch.  In Russia, the Mennonites tended to cling to their German heritage; maintaining their German language and customs.  They did not acclimate themselves with their Russian, Polish or Ukrainian neighbors.  Once the Ratzlaff party crossed the border into Austria-Hungary and Germany, they may have felt somewhat secure since they were familiar with the language and culture.

Railway station at Mysowitz:

Railway station at Ratibor:

Border crossing out of Russia

Crossing the Russian/Austro-Hungarian border in the very early 20^th century would have been a very difficult task.  To cross legally, the emigrant would need to be very patient while moving through the various steps.  He must have the proper paperwork and supporting documentation, he should probably have a ship ticket and/or a sponsor in the destination country.  He would have to be able to pass a medical examination and wait through tedious lines in very poor conditions.  Even if he passed through all these steps, he could be turned back at any point and be forced to return to his home.  A home that may or may not be waiting on him depending upon whether he sold his house and/or possessions.

If he chose to bypass the proper procedures and somehow illegally cross the border, he faced the danger of dealing with shady border smugglers who might do what they could to steal from or cheat the poor emigrant.  Border smugglers popped up in many border towns at the time.  Known as Agenten shvindlers or Geheime Agenten, these smugglers could be very dangerous to deal with.  Obviously these were people who made their living avoiding the law so their scruples were probably different from the emigrants who hired them.  For very high prices they would offer to assist emigrants over the border illegally, but this process ended badly for many, many emigrants.  Most smuggling was done at night.  Some smugglers would take the emigrant half-way, and then, under cover of darkness demand more money from the emigrant.  They might physically steal the emigrants’ possessions or lead them into a dangerous position physically in relation to armed border guards.  The emigrant was worried enough dealing with eluding official border guards but the transaction with the smuggler must have been almost as bad.

By 1893, inspection stations had been set up in many border towns to examine potential emigrants.  Some of these stations were maintained by the primary German shipping lines, Nord-Deutscher Lloyd and the Hamburg-America Line.  At the train station, the potential emigrants would be taken directly to the border station for examination.  Their luggage may have to stay behind at the depot and who can say what might happen to it there.  Conditions at the border stations were primitive and overcrowded.  If an emigrant passed the examination, he would have to wait in the station for the arrival of the train.  The wait could take several days and food and water were not necessarily provided by the station.  If the emigrant didn’t yet have a ship ticket, he may be able to purchase one at the border station.  Of course all the agents at the train station and border station would have been anxious to make extra money off the confused immigrants and tickets would be over-priced.

See: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=4&oq=out+of+the+sh&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS417US417&q=out+of+the+shtetl&gs_upl=0l0l0l2453lllllllllll0&aqi=g4s1&pbx=1

In 1907, the US Congress formed a special committee to investigate the European immigration process.  Called the Dillingham Commission, this report contains a lot of interesting information regarding immigration in the early 1900s: http://books.google.com/books?id=cmVE8ZNtDXAC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=f+missler+bremen+agent+immigration&source=bl&ots=TS0QARLdhH&sig=LElIHHj8fvMQVXo3tDELlcw08YQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DMYmT5-cKMigtwf27cmgCw&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBQ#v=twopage&q&f=false

If Andreas had decided to navigate through the proper channels, he would have needed to acquire the necessary paperwork and pass through the examination processes at the border station, which could have been a very complicated and difficult process.  The examination itself probably wouldn’t have been a problem; the family moved through examinations later in Germany and apparently they all got through.  Andreas was probably happy to avoid the primitive, cramped conditions at the border station though.

The real problem for the Ratzlaffs regarding crossing the border legally may have been the fact that according to his internal passport, Andreas was due to return to the Forestry Service on January 1, 1909.  He would probably have had to show the internal passport at any Russian border stations and the fact that he still had duty pending may have been enough for him to have been turned back. 

As it stood, the Ratzlaffs hired smugglers to take them across the border.  As we saw previously, the Ratzlaff party would probably have wanted to detrain at Iwanie Puste to avoid the border station in Radziwilow.  In this case, they would have had about a 15 mile walk to the border and about 5 more miles to reach Brody, Austria-Hungary.  At Brody, they would have collected any luggage and moved onto a train bound for Lemberg (L’viv) and beyond.  The Brody train station: