Product Overview
The Red Star Line was an American financed Belgian shipping company that brought between 1872 and 1934 ca. 2.7 million immigrants to the United States. The estimation is that half of passengers were Jews who left Eastern Europe. The first major exodus began in 1881 and reached a climax with the Kishinev pogrom from 1903. In 1893 the Red Star Line opened an office on Montevideo Street where the medical examinations examinations were conducted, and clothing and luggage disinfected. In front of that warehouse lived theartist Eugeen Van Mieghem ( 1875-1930) and he was confronted by the flood of refugees on a daily basis. His compassion is reflected in an impressive series of drawings of these emigrants in black chalk and pastel.
