Emigration to America

The exhibition traces the story of Johann Georg Will from Launsbach, whose surviving letters tell of his personal experiences. He emigrated to America in 1858. Text and visual displays in the entrance area explain the backgrounds to the wave of emigration, for example the social and economic hardships as well as political persecution. In addition, a light is shined on the names of important Americans of Hessian extraction. Another room is dedicated to the well-known colony of the Amana villages in the US state of Iowa. On the top floor, visitors are introduced to emigrant villages in Texas bearing Hessian names, such as Neu-Braunfels, Biddleborn, and Frankfurt.