Emigrant trains: Migratory transportation networks through Germany and the United States, 1847--1914

This dissertation investigates the intersection of migration, ethnicity, technology, and public health in the creation and evolution of railroad networks in Germany and the United States and examines the transatlantic links between them. Between 1847 and 1914, myriad public associations, state senates, Immigrant Commissioners, and private businesses created migration transportation networks in these two countries. Conflicting social and economic priorities among the interested parties meant that the results were products of negotiation. Some business interests saw migrants as potential sources of profit, while others feared the loss of a labor force and some governments lamented the loss of manpower for the military. Advocates for the migrants worried that populations along the routes would exploit the travelers, but skeptics worried that those same peoples needed protection from the disease and poverty believed to be common among crowds in transit. Both advocates and skeptics were especially active when Eastern Europeans, Russian Jews, and other scorned ethnic groups formed a major share of the traffic. As a result, on both sides of the Atlantic specialized transportation systems emerged that featured some combination of closed, segregated railroad cars for emigrants, border checkpoints, sanitization stations, and strict health inspection designed to insure profit and safety from "undesirable" migrants.;This project examines how Germany and the United States created these infrastructures to facilitate migration across their territories and also how the management of those systems operated as expressions and reinforcements of contemporary prejudices about the nature of the traffic and of the people in movement. The dissertation pursues three major themes. It analyzes the tensions between public and private interests regarding efforts to prevent the exploitation of passengers and to protect the settled population along the routes from dangers associated with migrants deemed to be threatening. It discusses the emergence, out of cultural and economic negotiations between public and private forces, of systems to manage populations in transit. It evaluates how the use of technology and specialized spatial arrangements embodied prevailing economic and cultural attitudes about "suspect" ethnic groups in migration across Germany and the United States.