Category: Features & analyses
Written by Sabrina Axster This is the second installment of our History of German Immigrants series. Read the first installment. Germans contributed to the creation of New Amsterdam in the early 1620s. But immigrants from Germany first began to settle in Manhattan in high numbers in the 1830s. By 1855, the city had the third largest population of Germans in the world after Berlin and Vienna (roughly 30 percent of NYC’s inhabitants were first- or second-generation German immigrants) and by...
Written by Arielle Kandel Today, December 18, is International Migrants Day — and there’s no better time to extend a welcoming hand to newcomers from all around the world. As a nation of immigrants, most of us have ancestors who came from distant lands and struggled to rebuild their lives here. It’s important to remember that, and to honor our immigrant heritage by helping those who are struggling today, those coming to the United States to seek new opportunities...
Written by Sabrina Axster This is the first installment of our History of German Immigrants series. Recently, I convinced a Spanish friend of mine to try German food with me. Together we ventured to Zum Schneider in Alphabet City, one of the many German restaurants and beer gardens dotted across the city. While trying to explain to my friend that Zum Schneider really serves Bavarian food and that the dishes from my own region, the Rhineland, are very different (Germany...
Written by Khatia Mikadze “Homesickness is like any sickness, it will pass.” Or so says a pastor to a young immigrant woman from Ireland in Brooklyn, a newly released romantic drama based on Colm Tóibín’s novel that’s directed by John Crowley. It tells the story of a young girl who immigrates from a small Irish town to New York City in the 1950s and settles in Brooklyn, a hub for Irish immigrants at the time. The main character, Eilis Lacey,...