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

Historian Ujifusa (Barons of the Sea) presents a captivating group portrait of three “titans” of industry who facilitated the steamship routes by which around 2 million Jewish refugees, fleeing pogroms and discrimination, immigrated from Europe to America between 1890 and 1921. German Jewish shipping magnate Albert Ballin was the inventive and resourceful managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, which he developed into a leading carrier of both well-heeled travelers and Jewish refugees from Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The American Jewish financier and philanthropist Jacob Schiff bankrolled Jewish immigration networks, attempted to enlist the support of the U.S. government on behalf of Russia’s beleaguered Jews, and fought against anti-immigration efforts led by such figures as Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge. Meanwhile, American banker J.P. Morgan, fueled partly by a rivalry with Schiff, made attempts to take over the lucrative Atlantic shipping industry (which Ballin had built up) through the creation of the International Mercantile Marine Company, a monopolistic trust that coordinated activity between different shipping lines. Ujifusa ties this intricate business history into a broader economic and diplomatic context, and relates the experiences of regular people who made the crossings, including the families who perished aboard the Titanic. This innovative account provides a complex new perspective on the turn of the 20th century. (Nov.)