The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia’s Jews on the Eve of World War I

by Steven Ujifusa

A propulsive human drama that chronicles the mass exodus of Jews from Eastern Europe to America in the early years of the twentieth century, and the men who made it possible. Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more—including Ujifusa’s great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York’s Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa’s story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war—and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, World War I, Audiobook, Politics, American History

384 pages, Hardcover

Published November 21, 2023

About the author

Steven Ujifusa is an historian and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous articles on architecture and urban history for PlanPhilly.com and PhillyHistory.org. When he is not writing, he enjoys singing, photography, rowing on the Schuylkill River, and travel. A native of New York City and raised in Chappaqua, New York, Steven received his undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and a joint masters in historic preservation and real estate development from the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves on the advisory council of the SS United States Conservancy, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving the great ship and preserving her historical legacy.

"A Man and His Ship" is his first book. "The Wall Street Journal" named it as one of their top ten nonfiction books of 2012.

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do J.P. Morgan, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Henry Cabot Lodge have in common? You're right: antisemitism! And as illustrated in Steven Ujifusa's The Last Ships from Hamburg, they were not alone.

The book is pretty sprawling narrative covering the business of immigrant steamship transportation. The main characters are the aforementioned Morgan, and also Albert Ballin and Jacob Schiff. I knew nothing about Ballin and Schiff before this. Ujifusa makes them very interesting characters with specific drives and also obvious faults. There is no hero worship in this book even if there are heroic deeds throughout.

Ujifusa follows the explosion of Russian-Jewish flight from Russia right before World War I. The narrative of the business dealings was interesting, but the real highlight of the book for me was whenever Ujifusa tells smaller stories about specific immigrants and what they faced. A small chapter on what an immigrant mother and child experienced is one of the saddest things I have ever read. The business side of things is important to understanding the greater story, but these smaller instances are when I was completely hooked. Give it a read!

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Harper Books.)

[Cropredy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book because I was doing a hobby project related to my grandparents arriving at Ellis Island back in the 1910s and wanted to know more about that "scene". Ironically, as I read the book, as so often happens, historical events from 110-115 years ago re-resonate in 2025. MLK might have said The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice but that bend seems to be ever so slight in certain aspects of how humans treat each other.

Anyway, back to the book and my grandparents.

They came from Galicia which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time and not that far from Russia. Things weren't so great for Jews back then in that region. Pogroms were rampant and the Czar, who blamed the Jews for the assassination of his grandfather, imposed all sorts of restrictions. Young men would be drafted for 25 years into the army. Discrimination of all sorts was omnipresent. Needless to say, many, many Jews (plus other ethnicities) wanted "out" and America was the place to go as there were no immigration restrictions.

In my naive mind, I imagined my grandfather struggling to acquire enough money to book passage in steerage and then, voila, ended up in New York to start the journey towards the American Dream.

This book is mostly about the "voila" part -- what institutions and systems were put in place to make this happen and how they adapted to events.

The key was shipping. A German Jewish businessman - Albert Ballin, rose to commercial power at Hapag, a German shipping line. He realized there was money to be made in reliable 3rd class/steerage of the tens and hundreds of thousands of eastern Europeans who wanted "out". Competing with IMM (owners of the Titanic and her sister ships), NDL (another German shipping company), and Cunard (owners of Lusitania and her sister ships), Ballin built the most profitable passenger service with regular service to the US East Coast. Yes, his ships had first and second class. Yes, first class was lavish. But the profits were in steerage.

The second key was verticalization -- not only did one have to have shipping, one had to market the service to the customers. This included subsidies (charity) from Jewish organizations, many based in the US to funnel money into impoverished Russians so they could get out.

One also needed control of the border crossings so customers weren't denied entry to Germany (as the ships sailed from Hamburg)

One also needed a place to temporarily house emigrants to parcel out onto the ships based on available space. This needed to be hygienic (to avoid disease outbreaks)

All this was Ballin's doing. I had never heard of him and knew next to nothing about the Hamburg-Amerika line except insofar as they competed with British shipping on luxury and speed.

Along with Ballin was Jacob Schiff, an American Jewish financier who used his wealth made in railroads to facilitate the Russian emigrants getting to the US. Again, someone I had never heard of. Morgan and Warburg (several of them) feature in the story as well.

Now, OK you might say, pretty "boring" stuff building a business empire. But, remember the time and how various externalities created all sorts of "challenges"

- Cholera outbreaks and the closing of ports
- The Russo-Japanese War and a sudden demand for soldiers leading to desperate attempts to get out of Russia
- The Titanic sinking and the impact that had on theoretically "safe" ocean voyages
- Ever-rising American sentiment against immigrants; the rise in eugenics thinking (extolling the Nordic race was an American concept)
- The Kaiser and his court (most of whom were none too sympathetic towards the Jews)
- World War I -- if you were a German shipping magnate with ships all over the globe and a soon-to-be blockade of Germany by the British, your business would be wiped out

So, all in all, an interesting history of 1890-1920, one that anyone with ancestors coming from eastern Europe will be able to relate to.

No maps but some photos. Well-sourced.

[Joseph Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just ok. Interesting to read about the immigrant trade and get background on the major players, though. The immigrant trade presented an intersection between lots of different topics - geopolitics, racism/antisemitism, finance, logistics - nothing too notable, but it was an easy read and makes me consider my own familial ancestry and path into the United States.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a goodreads giveaway. While the title suggests a last minute humanitarian effort to evacuate Russian Jews before the start of WWI, the book covers many more years preceding that event. The work is more focused on Russian Jewish immigration to the US beginning with the ascension of Tsar Alexander III and the increase in anti-semitic policies in Russia. The work focused mainly on the director of the Hamburg American Line, Albert Ballin, a banker, Jacob Schiff, and J.P Morgan. The first third of the book is about introducing these three individuals and also explaining the monetization of immigration by shipping companies in the late 19th and early 20th century.

While the last 2/3 of the book do focus on the plight of Russian Jews, particularly after the Kishinev program in Moldova, the focus still leans towards the business side of the history and discussed the ship building advancements between competing shipping lines, including the Titanic. I think the book would have been much better if focused on the humanitarian aspects of the shipping. The work tends to drown in the detail and the title suggests a premise different than the book. I believe there are probably better works that cover this topic.

[Bill Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional story of several riveting characters driving immigration patterns prior to WW I. I had not been familiar with Albert Ballin, who was such a fascinating man in a time of remarkable turbulence. Throw in Jacob Schiff and JP Morgan and Mr. Ujifusa presents a tale of depth and complexity well worth taking the time to explore.

[Fuuma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is poorly titled. It's also all over the place.

I tried to keep this review useful and vague enough for someone who hasn't read it yet and is interested, but I go into detail about the Titanic chapter because I can't explain that bit without being specific. If you're the type who wants absolutely no spoilers, this review is too specific for you.

Other reviews have described it as too broad of a scope, however I felt at many times that the scope was too narrow. The focus of the book remains on one group of people and one company throughout; that is not the problem. It *feels* broad because it follows tangents, some that don't belong in the book, and in following those tangents hops around in time. It completely destroys the cohesive, comprehensive narrative and makes it a cat and mouse chase. The book follows this Very Specific Thread and ignores the world at large, so unless you've got the dates memorized... You forget what was happening over there while this is happening over here because they were discussed 50 pages apart. Conversely, there was one part of the book where they reminded us of a detail barely 10 pages after we were first told it in exactly the same words, which gave it a repetitive feel. Amazing to have accomplished both in one book.

There was business. There was rivalry. I'm not sure there was a race to save anyone. There was a race to sink or swim businesses, a race to outpace each other, but the saving people was more like the turtle out of the turtle and the hare. It just kind of happened in the process of doing business. The title made me think there would be an actual race to save people, and instead I was legitimately confused about which ships are the last out of Hamburg. There was no big 'These are the last ships!' moment. There was just kind of business, and then no business.

The entire chapter dedicated to the Titanic was unnecessary. It was not in the scope of the book. It was a tangent, and a weird one. It was neither part of the 'race' nor a ship from Hamburg. But the craziest part is it could have been sold as such. The biographies of passengers on board and little-known facts was helpful to a degree toward that end, and was actually in the scope of the book, but the set up and wrap up just left me ???. We are told just before that Ballin was interested in the triplet ships, led to believe there could possibly be some effect to his business from their launch... but then we skip ENTIRELY over the launch of Olympic. Apparently they weren't that interesting, because the ship being in service wasn't anything to write in the book about. But we sure spent some time on Titanic's lifeboats.

I'm not sure the book went into as much detail about any other event in the book than it did for Titanic. It's like the book suddenly changed into a short synopsis on the Titanic disaster for one chapter. A quick summary of what happened and how it affected shipping at the time and specifically Hapag would have made sense. Instead that whole thing ended with 'and nothing really changed for Hapag—ONWARD!' Everything included about the passengers and individuals affected could have been done without giving us A Night To Remember Abridged. People who wanted to read about the Titanic disaster could have picked up any number of books literally titled Titanic. This one is last ships from Hamburg. How did this get left in the final draft, I have to ask?

I also had difficulties with the citations. I admit I was listening to the audiobook, so there is the possibility of footnotes that I could not see, that were not read to me, and I will assume that they exist. My difficulty was more in when evidence was not presented and specificity of that evidence. Without going into too much detail, the first half of the book is filled with statements, opinions, and suggestions without saying how we know they are true. This was driving me up the wall. I was given tidbits. I remember an, 'according to his granddaughter,' which, okay, tells me it's from an interview or something. There was a, 'no record exists but we do know,' except it was followed by not telling us how we know. But then there were things left hanging by themselves, no source, making them sound like speculation or assumption. I do not like this from my nonfiction. We were given a newspaper headline at one point without being told what newspaper or who the editor was. I felt a LOT better about this in the second half of the book, where whole passages were cited and direct quotes were everywhere. But that first half, man. That first half.

But all these things still result in a 3-star review because I learned some great stuff in this book! So the first half made me rant about the importance of citations and the Titanic chapter was a slog and I feel like I missed a bunch of stuff because I don't speak German or any of the Jewish languages and stuff was definitely said and left undefined (Making me feel like this book maybe wasn't intended for me) but there was a lot about the shipping businesses, the waltz of governments, and the immigrant experience that I had not heard before, and so, I consider my lifetime not wasted by spending some on this book. It was more painful to get through than I would have liked, but I'm glad that I read it.

Much of this review is patched together from my messages to friends while reading it 😂 So I hope I am remembering everything correctly. If I have misremembered something specific, I apologize.

[Rachel DiGrazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little dense, a little dry but very good. It definitely had me going down all kinds of research rabbitholes, including of my own genealogy. I'm genuinely not sure how my great-grandparents got out as late as they did except bribery and luck. I have a much greater appreciation for my own existence after reading this.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Audiobook) While the title suggests just European Jews leaving Germany for America before World War I, this book is a case of a little bit of everything, everywhere, all at once. This work covers European politics from 1848-1918, the rise of the robber barons in the Gilded Age, US anti-immigration work, eugenics, World War I, the Titanic, pre-war shipping, the rise of Zionism pre-World War I and a host of other topics. There are a lot more threads in this tale then you would think and the author does a solid job of weaving all of that history together and tying it back to the premise of covering Jewish migration from Europe, primarily Germany, to America in the pre-war years. Of course, the specter of anti-semitism is always present, a theme that is quite strong today, as is anti-immigration and other themes. A relevant and solid read for this day and age. The rating is the same regardless of format.

[Matthew Barmack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read that combines two different narratives: one about the businessmen involved in North Atlantic shipping in the late 19th/early 20th century, including Jacob Schiff, J.P. Morgan, the Warburgs, and Albert Ballin and another about the history of immigration to the U.S., especially Jewish immigration during the same period. What was new to me (but probably shouldn't have been) was the rabid anti-semitism in the U.S. at that time, including from J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Francis Walker (president of MIT) and Lawrence Lowell (president of Harvard). Lots of parallels to today with respect to nativist backlash against immigration. Also interesting how little Russia has changed since the Romanovs--the Romanov slogan of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" could easily be invoked by Putin and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was an early example using disinformation to attack the regimes perceived enemies. Ultimately I found this book depressing, not because it was bad, but because it was a good reminder that the cossacks are always coming.

[jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

of great interest to me as my family left Russian pale in 1907 and always wondered how they could figure out to logistics and maze the one would have had to go through to get to and into America... this book explains it all! well researched with good insights into the geo-political and economic realities of the time cross many countries from USA to England to Germany to Russia and even into Japan.

[Barbara Geffen · Rating 5 out of 5]

All four of my grandparents immigrated from somewhere in the Russian Empire to the United States, as Jews fleeing the pogroms of the Czar between 1897 and 1911. When the librarian at our synagogue announced the selection of Ujifusa's book for our book club selection, I was eager to read of how my family's travels may have begun. We never learned which ships carried them across the ocean or how they made their way from the sthetls to a port; I have information only on one grandparent about her passage in steerage at age 18 with a much older sister and that sister's 4 daughters. By reading this book, and hearing the author's presentation, I understand better the travails of those seeking a better life. From my grandparents, I know how they looked to the future and not the past; they didn't worry about what they left behind, except for the relatives they lost to subsequent pogroms and other horrific deeds. Ujifusa explains how German shipping magnate Albert Ballin helped his coreligionists escape while enriching his business and the German government he loved (which did not love him back; how could Kaiser Wilhelm II love a Jew - he was an antisemite!). The shipping business Ballin built (HAPAG) in Hamburg competed successfully in Europe and England with other lines, including that of antisemiteJ.P. Morgan, and with the help of brilliant fabulously wealthy Jewish-German American banker Jacob Schiff who generously aided Jewish immigrants from Russia and other hostile European countries when they arrived in the United States. Ballin provided border crossings, housing, tickets to buy passage, and kosher food, along with medical checkups to assure he didn't send anyone across on his ships who would be sent back (at his shipping company's expense). When Germany finally decided the time was ripe for its military expansionist dreams to be enacted and WWI began, the immigration business basically ended. Although it began again when the war ended, by then antisemitism had prevailed and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and his followers had won the day. New laws restricting immigration passed and few Jews (among others) were allowed in to U.S. ports. We know the rest. How sad for all. For Albert Ballin, too; he didn't live to see much of that. Downtrodden by business losses from the war and the snub from the Kaiser who previously had supported his commercial endeavors, he died in Nov., 1918, a broken man. In all, Ballin was responsible for transporting 1.2 million Jew from Russia to America. Yes that business made him a rich man; but he did what he did to help Jews. Who can argue with his motivation?

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between 1880 and the start of World War I, 1.5 million of Jews left the violently anti-Semitic Russian Empire for the United States, and at least half of them left on ships owned by HAPAG, a Hamburg-based shipping company. This book is the story of how HAPAG executive Albert Ballin made this happen.

As immigration exploded, Germans worried about being overwhelmed by millions of migrants, much as Americans fear a surge of immigration today. Ballin solved the problem by offering to take control of the Russian/German border. Under his (successful) plan, German shipping companies would take over border control stations, inspect would-be emigrants for contagious disease, sell them tickets to the U.S. (if they had not already purchased such tickets) and turn back those who wanted to stay in Germany. Everyone benefitted: Ballin's company got customers, Germany got to limit immigration from Russia, and the immigrants got to escape Russia for the U.S. However, the shipping business was crushed in World War I, as ship-vs-ship warfare made immigration impossible. And after World War I, the U.S. limited immigration significantly.

This book is mostly business history, and thus might be a bit dry for people who don't enjoy business journalism. However, it is full of interesting little facts. In particular, the book describes the experience of traveling in steerage: even though Jewish customers got kosher food (good), they didn't have much space; tables were next to bunks, and even though there were partitions between family groups, people could see into (and smell) each other's compartments. Even in good weather, ships shook violently because of the vibrations of their engines, especially in the lower decks where steerage bunks were. When seas were uneven, ships rolled and caused seasickness.

The book also goes on some tangents that are not always very related to the main story- but some of the tangents are interesting too. Because J.P. Morgan invested in a competitor of Ballin's and sought to buy him out, the book briefly describes him and his life. During the 1890s recession, Morgan saved the U.S. from an economic disaster by arranging for a syndicate of bankers to put up funds to guarantee the solvency of the U.S. government. And when a 1907 financial panic threatened the economy, Morgan cooperated with other bankers to bail out the economy. I got the impression from this book that although Morgan (unlike Ballin) was not tremendously likable, he nevertheless did great things.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, well-researched book about the politics and the business leaders that brought about the exodus of so many Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire to America. The business leaders at the heart of this operation were Jacob Schiff, the wealthy humanitarian at the head of the former Kuhn, Loeb and Partners investment bank, Albert Ballin, who rose from poverty to lead the Hamburg-American steamship line, and J.P. Morgan, who enlarged his empire from banking, railroads, steel and more by inserting his millions into the steamship business.

The book covers the period from the early 1880s to just before World War I, when millions made their way from Europe to America in escape from persecution and the violence of the pogroms, in search of a better life. It focuses almost entirely on the immigration routes to New York (as opposed to other ports of entry), where the largest number entered the United States, and conditions and key events there such as the Triangle Fire. It reaches heavily into the German-Jewish "aristocracy" of the leading banking and mercantile families such as the Warburgs, analyzes the politics and reigns of Kaiser Wilhelm and the Russian Tsars, but also delves deeply into the powerful anti-immigration policies of politicians such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the writer Madison Grant, and others.

Even though my own family, which the exception of one grandfather, made their way to America from "Russia" before the largest swell of immigration occurred, and none came through or settled in New York, I found this enlightening reading. Considering the anti-immigration attitudes of some current politicians, we are today seeing a true example of what is meant by the adage that "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it", though most of the immigrants are of very different backgrounds than those of 125 years ago.

[Gayla Marks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the audiobook. I enjoyed the book tremendously. It covers the history of the various shipping company which worked to transport many Jewish immigrants from country, particularly Russia, where they were being treated so terribly. The book report the rivalry between many of the shipping companies, some facing Germany, some in the US, and some in Britain. The timeframe is the early 1900s, leading up to World War I and a bit of time following that. Most interesting were that some of the major companies were owned, and/or led by Jewish men who worked so diligently to be able to transport Jewish families from places where the living conditions were terrible to the US. There was competition between the companies on a business basis, but the aim is was to help Jewish immigrants. The book is well-researched and I particularly enjoyed the background in history of the companies involved in this humanitarian effort, and having their leaders’ personalities and their interests described so well. A great read for those of you who like non-fiction and learning little-known historical facts.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In choosing this book I made a mistake for I read the big print title, about "Last Ship" and not the smaller print about the "Race to save ......". I expected the book to be about ship history- which it encompasses in terms of ships built to encourage and permit immigration, but it does not include a history of ships that included both cargo and passenger ships. As I read on realizing my mistake, I got quite engaged in the scope of ship money magnates in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Mostly the book seemed to be about Albert Ballin. The plethora of names and who did what has not stock in my brain. I misquoted who did what when trying to tell someone about the book. However, in the long run, I understood the conditions that Jews faced in their European homes, the lengths they had to go to in discomfort to get to the US and the crowded housing that faced them in New York and their ship trip to get there.

Above all, I came away with sadness that Jews had been more persecuted throughout the ages that I had realized.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its core, this book is a biography of the shipping magnate Albert Ballin, who rose to influence as the manager of the Hamburg-America Line, in spite of being of Jewish descent. That Ballin became so successful was a result of how he was able to exploit the great wave of immigration to the United States, many of whom were Jewish folk seeking to escape the anti-Jewish policy of the regime of Tsar Alexander III. Everything else that Ujifusa covers in his intricate narrative stems from these two points, as he further explores the rise and fall of mass immigration before 1914, the cut and thrust of the commercial shipping business in this period, and providing a kaleidoscopic portrait of the "Belle Epoch" before the Great War. A war that broke Ballin as a businessman and a person; along with so many others.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dovetailed with other books read recently. An amazing research job by Ujifusa, and full of fascinating information I hadn't previously known, like the emigration villages set up by Ballin on the Russian/German border where Russian emigrants were medically vetted and then waited until they could board ships to the US. Details about antisemitism in the U.S. and history of opposition to immigrants were certainly top of mind to Ujifusa as he wrote this, and are extremely relevant to our nation's current environment. I highly recommend this to anyone whose ancestors came here from central and eastern Europe and Russia from 1880-1914. You'll learn about the difficulties they had getting to the ships, where they embarked from, the traveling conditions they likely endured during the voyage, and the political and economic environment that enabled the opportunity to immigrate to America at all.

[Ben]

Steven Ujifusa’s The Last Ships From Hamburg uses the biography of Albert Ballin, whose shipping company was responsible for a significant portion of European emigration to the U.S. around the turn of the last century, as a foundation to explore a series of intertwined histories. Ujifusa focuses largely on the Jewish experience, including Jewish-American cultural history, shifting tides of anti-semitism in Germany, Russia, and the U.S., and snapshots of immigrants’ lives from the shtetl to tenement and beyond. But there’s plenty for those with a more general interest in U.S. history, particularly his explorations of American attitudes towards immigration and U.S. immigration laws. It never ceases to amaze me how little the immigration debate has changed in 150 years in some respects.

[Gail · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not (unfortunately) get too far reading this book. I found the style to be deadening, and lost interest right away. I couldn't even finish the first chapter. And, speaking about this chapter there's a discrepancy (two pages apart) with how many children Albert Ballin's father (Samuel) had with his second wife, Amalia. This is not good. The book was not proofread, and the three outside editors the author used to "look over" the manuscript before submitting it to the publisher obviously did not see this glaring error. I was really looking forward in reading "The Last Ships from Hamburg," but it was not to be.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. This is great story-telling. It reads more like a novel than nonfiction. I found the story compelling and impossible to put down. The biographical information is excellent as are the historical details, yet the story never gets bogged down. The book is fast paced; there is no lingering, yet the book feels unrushed. The story itself is fascinating and filled a huge gap in my knowledge, a gap I didn’t even know I had. Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for the digital review copy.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a lot has been written about the plight and escape of Jews prior to and during World War II, little has been devoted to WWI as this book has. Actually, there are so many focal points of the book from the business world of the shipping industry in both Germany and Britain (and, yes, the Titanic plays a role in the story) to the plight of immigrants, especially the Russian Jews to the individual stories of tycoons (Jewish and Anti-Semites alike) that there is sometimes a lot to take in. But the author humanizes the history for us and it is often compelling reading.

[Richard Silberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not being a fan of nonfiction, I was not overjoyed when our Jewish Book club selected this for our next read. And despite the seemingly unexciting topic, I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent rendering of the pre World War I attempt to transport thousands of Europeans fleeing oppression and hardship, Anti-Semitism and pogroms, and poverty and disease. Although one cannot read this book quickly, it was so immensely interesting, I found myself reading aloud to better enjoy it.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book. It is intense, so I had to read a chapter or two and let it sink in for a bit.
Immigration before and up to WWI.
The ships and the men who ran the shipping companies.
Capitalism saved a lot of Jews in Russia.
The Russian Jews settled mainly on the lower East Side of NYC. The German Jews lived uptown.
Anti-semitism got worse and worse in the U.S. leading to immigration quotas.
There is so much to learn in this book. It opens so many avenues for study.

[Sammie Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read story of forgotten American history, the business of immigration, and survival. The book has a big sweep but it's told through vibrant characters-- some of whom I knew, and some of whom I didn't-- which makes this a rare book I can see my father enjoying and my mother recommending to her book group.

[Robin Perkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.


This was a confusing book, there was no continuity and little relationship to ships from Hamburg. There was a lot of background information, which could be good, but it got in the way of the story the author was trying to tell. The one saving note was the pictures which were the only reason I kept at the book.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book focuses on the three men who were rivals in establishing the shipping industry. Ballin and Schiff were also trying to get Jews out of repressive Russia and realized those steerage passengers were the profits that allowed them to grow. JP Morgan was their rival. I liked the many tangential topics and it’s surprising how much this book adds to WWI knowledge

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative and interesting book about the wealthy men whose ship companies played a huge role in ferrying Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe to the United States around the turn of the 20th Century. It's a complex story where philanthropic interests and business interests sometimes align and sometimes work at cross-purposes, and politics make everything more complicated.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally gave up on this book when it turned out to be more about the steamship business than about the immigrants who came, or desperately needed to come, to America on the steamships that were being described as part of the lengthy business of getting the immigrants to America. If there was a "race to save" the Jews in Russia coming to the story, it was taking much too long.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellently researched and presented history of a group of men who attempted to save Jews from the institutionalized anti-Semitism of the Russian tsars by facilitating their emigration. Pretty fascinating material, and the various motivations and conflicts between the actors made the success of their actions even more impressive.

[Lauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish. The subtitle of this book is very misleading. I made it pretty far but then I just had to give up. The book is really about the rivalry between ship owners and very little about Jewish immigration. I definitely thought I was going to be reading a far different book.