This is a riveting account about the mass emigration of Eastern-European Jews from Antwerp to America between 1873 and 1934. The greatest number came over after the pogroms, between 1900 and 1914. The journey to American ports that took from seven to fourteen days was a grueling experience for those in steerage. The estimate is that between 30-40 percent of Jewish Americans have ancestors who sailed with the Red Star Line. Many stories have been written about the emigration experience from Antwerp by Jewish writers such as Sholom Aleichem and Yuri Suhl. Noteworthy passengers include Irving Berlin, Golda Meir, and Albert Einstein. The Antwerp artist Eugeen Van Mieghem is probably the only artist in Europe who made a cycle of works of art about these Jewish emigrants.
Speaker Erwin Joos is the curator of Belgium’s Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum and president of the Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation, a non-profit organization with more than 1,000 members. He has organized exhibitions at YIVO, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and South Street Seaport Museum in addition to numerous exhibitions in Europe. Mr.Joos has lectured in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris, and New York, has written five major art books including Antwerp New York: Eugene Van Mieghem, and has edited 12 albums.
New York City, NY; NYC