Holland America Line’s 150-Year Celebration Highlights the Immigrant Experience
经过布列塔尼·克鲁斯切尔(Brittany Chrusciel)/Holland America Line’s Rotterdam pulled into the Port of Manhattan early in the morning on October 26, retracing an inaugural journey from Rotterdam, Netherlands that the cruise line took in 1872. A century and a half ago, the ship carried just 70 passengers, most of whom were bound for a new life in the United States.
鹿特丹于今年早些时候首次亮相,现在是第七艘船以鹿特丹名称。在其150年的历史中,荷兰美国线的车队已经从荷兰远洋班轮过渡到国际消费邮轮公司。它的船只载有10%的乘客,他们在19日后期从欧洲越过大西洋Thand early 20Th几个世纪;其中包括在Steerage旅行的200万移民,他们经过了纽约著名的Ellis Island。
克鲁斯历史学家比尔·米勒(Bill Miller)回忆说:“我遇到了这次旅行的一对夫妇,他们告诉我他们的祖父母来自荷兰美国线上的欧洲,当他们到达纽约时,他们弯下腰并亲吻了地面。”“荷兰美国是一座伟大的桥梁,我为这场庆祝活动和这家出色的公司的一小部分感到非常自豪。”
Miller and Lean speaking onboard. Photo: Brittany Chrusciel
At an event onboard Rotterdam in New York, Mark Levine, the president of the borough of Manhattan, presented a proclamation naming October 26, 2022 to be Holland America Line Appreciation Day and applauded the company’s significant role in the immigrant experience in New York City.
“It is rare and it is a privilege to lead a company that has been around for 150 years; it is a responsibility that I do not take lightly,” Gus Antorcha, president of Holland America Line, told the audience during the anniversary kickoff event. “Anniversaries are a great time to reminisce, but it’s even more important for us to think about the next 150 years and how we intend to stay relevant for generations to come.
“我们公司的标志之一是弹性。在过去的150年中,有很多起伏 - 我们在战争中幸存下来,抑郁症,跨大西洋飞行的发展和最近的大流行 - 我们继续从每项挑战中学习适应,以改善并最终蓬勃发展。我们之所以成功,是因为我们将人们置于我们所做的一切的核心;人们就是一切,他们从一开始就一直存在。”
为了纪念邮轮对埃利斯岛的影响,荷兰美国已与自由女神像伊利斯岛基金会合作,并从2023年2月至2023年4月的游客提供了一个精选的展览,该展览讲述了荷兰美国船舶上的美国移民历史。展览还将以鹿特丹上尉的Werner Timmers的一部分制作该生产线最早的船只的模型。
At its peak, Ellis Island could welcome 10 steamships and process about 5,000 people each day — with pen and paper. Beyond preserving the national landmarks of the State of Liberty and Ellis Island, the mission of the onsite American Family Immigration History Center “goes beyond that,” according to its director, Stephen Lean. “We’re protecting, preserving, remembering and celebrating the stories of the people who were present on Ellis Island.”
Notable Holland America passengers include Albert Einstein who sailed in 1921 aboard the Rotterdam IV; Ralph Baer who immigrated with his parents in 1938 aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam and became an engineer known for pioneering interactive video games; and renowned puppeteer Frank Oz who sailed in 1950 aboard the Veendam and is best known for developing “The Muppets.”
“All of our lives are made better by stories such as this…from a better understanding of how the physical world works; from videogames to the voices of some of the most beloved characters to tens of millions of children around the world, these stories are worth celebrating,” Lean said. “There is an immigrant story behind all of these facets of everyday life that we sometimes take for granted. And written in that immigrant story for these and millions of others is a chapter that took place on a Holland America Line vessel.”