Great migration from Eastern Europe
Dreams of a New World
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
Emma Lazarus
The decision to leave Europe and emigrate – primarily to the United States – posed a difficult challenge and necessitated a journey replete with obstacles. Nevertheless, economic hardships and the hope for a better future drove millions to take the risk. As for the Jews, the reasons for emigrating also included discrimination and antisemitic persecutions.
Improvements in land and sea transport in the 19th century made the trip easier and less costly. Thus, within a period of just a hundred years, around fifty million immigrants from Europe arrived in the New World. Over four million of them were Jewish. Many Jews also emigrated to Western Europe, South America, South Africa and Australia.