Only in Hamburg by Duncan J.D. Smith

94 33 Hamburg-Mitte The Rebuilding of BallinStadt Hamburg-Mitte (Veddel), BallinStadt Emigration City at Veddeler Bogen 2 S3, S31 Veddel (BallinStadt); Bus 13, 154, 254, 354 S-Bahn Veddel The neo-Classical façade of the Hapag-Lloyd shipping office at Ballindamm 25 (Altstadt) dominates the eastern bank of the Binnen­ alster. The grandeur of the building (called Ballin-Haus) and the name of the street bear witness to the entrepreneurial genius of Albert Bal- lin (1857–1918), a German Jew who transformed the face of Hamburg’s shipping industry during the early years of the twentieth century. So successful was he that his luxurious villa at Feldbrunnenstrasse 38 (Rotherbaum) was nicknamed “Little Potsdam”, and boasted a drive- way wide enough to accommodate the entourage of his friend Emperor William II (1888–1918). Although not open to the public it is possible to catch a glimpse of the imposing foyer of Ballin-Haus from the street, which helps explain the background to Ballin’s success. Inscribed across a marble lintel is the phrase “Mein Feld ist die Welt” (My field is the world), the motto of the Hamburg-American Line (Hamburg-Amerikanische Paketfahrt- Aktiengesellschaft – HAPAG), which was founded in 1847 (the merger with Norddeutsche Lloyd only came in 1970). The company benefitted greatly from the fact that Hamburg was fast becoming one of the most important emigrant centres in Europe, predominantly for Russians and East European Jews fleeing poverty and persecution in the hope of a better life in America. One of the agencies selling passages belonged to Albert Ballin’s father, which young Albert inherited in 1874, and de- veloped into an independent shipping line. His success brought him to the attention of HAPAG, where he was employed in 1886. By 1899 he had risen to managing director – and HAPAG had become the largest transatlantic shipping line in the world. Albert Ballin’s phenomenal success was two-fold. Firstly, under his management HAPAG offered luxury cruises around the globe in specially-commissioned passenger liners, such as the SS Imperator and SSVaterland , which featured novelties such as onboard newspapers, cinemas, and swimming pools. Secondly, and more importantly, Bal- lin introduced steerage class on his ships, which made transatlantic crossings not only affordable for emigrants but also highly profitable