For many people in the 19th and 20th centuries Hamburg was the gateway to the world, the gateway to a new life. From 1841 onwards people left Europe in large numbers via Le Havre, Antwerp, Liverpool, Bremerhaven and, a little later, Hamburg, fleeing poverty, hunger, wars, and religious and political persecution.

The decisive factor in Hamburg’s emergence as a departure point for emigrants was the foundation of the Hamburg-American Steamship Company (HAPAG) in 1847. HAPAG’s fleet of ships expanded as the growth of emigration contributed significantly to the company's success.

By 1900 Hamburg had become the most important emigration departure point in Germany. Between 1836 and 1941 about four million people left Europe via the Hanseatic port. Countless others followed them after the end of the Second World War, until aircraft finally took over the task of transporting large numbers of people. In total, about five million people emigrated from Europe via Hamburg.

The city needed huge accommodation centres to cope with the steadily growing numbers of emigrants. Emigrant hostels were built, first at the America Quay in Hamburg harbour, then in the Veddel district. The hostels with their orderly and hygienic conditions attracted even more emigrants to Hamburg.

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, the majority of emigrants were East European Jews, driven from their homes by pogroms, seeking a route to the New World. By 1914 more than one million Jews from Eastern Europe had emigrated via Hamburg. A number of film makers have commemorated these refugees in cinema, including Steven Spielberg in his animated feature "An American Tail: Fievel goes West".