Exhibition
Millions of Eastern Europeans travelled to Antwerp, from where they left for America with a Red Star Line ship in search of a better future. One of these fortune seekers was the Jewish teenager Benjamin Kopp. In 1912 he left all on his own from Nowe Miasto nad Pilica, a village near Warsaw, by horse-drawn cart, fleeing the hopelessness and the impending pogroms.
One hundred years later Pascal Verbeken and Herman Selleslags retraced his journey to Antwerp, using Benjamin Kopp’s unpublished memoirs as a guide. The outcome is a fascinating travelogue in words and photos.
With the Tranzyt Antwerpia project Verbeken and Selleslags bring back to life the old Europe of the migrants and en route portray new Europe, which has radically changed because of the huge migration movements. They visited Warsaw, Cracow, Auschwitz and Berlin among others. The journey ended in Antwerp’s port district. Today new immigrants sleep in the night shelters and hotels. They no longer travel to America but stay in the city. Antwerp used to be a transit city but now it has become a final destination for thousands of Eastern Europeans.
Tranzyt Antwerpia is the travel report in words and photographs of this fascinating undertaking. Pascal Verbeken wrote the text for the book, while Herman Selleslags provided the photos for the book and the exhibition.
Practical information
- In De Loods of the Red Star Line Museum, 3, Montevideostraat, 2000 Antwerp
- Open from Tuesday until Friday, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday until 7 p.m.
- Free admission.
- The eponymous book Tranzyt Antwerpia by Pascal Verbeken is on sale in the Red Star Line’s museum shop and in certain bookshops.