Antwerp was a particularly popular port of emigration among Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. These people constituted a sizeable proportion of the Red Star Line’s passengers. The shipping company recruited its “customers” from deep within Eastern Europe.
In the course of 20 years, Leopold Lybeer worked as a railway builder and herdsman in Canada. The financial crisis and his wife's nostalgia ended his Canadian adventure. Leopold would never forget the pristine landscape of Canada.
In 1963 Jan Yoors and the French film director Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau made the film Only One New York. Gaisseau won the first Oscar for a documentary in 1961 with the film Le Ciel et la Boue. The film documents a Franco-Dutch expedition through Dutch New Guinea. It focuses on tribes of cannibals.
Jan Yoors was a versatile artist who took photos, wrote books, painted, designed tapestries and sculpted. Nevertheless, there are themes that recur in several of his artistic expressions. Discover the links in Yoors’ work.
In 1947 Jan Yoors visited the successful exhibition ‘La tapisserie Française du moyen age à nos jours’, which was on display for the first time in Paris. Yoors became fascinated by tapestry weaving.
Jan Yoors was an enigmatic figure. The story of his youth and lifestyle aroused admiration and amazement. At the same time, it is difficult to see the real Jan Yoors through all the stories.
The former American ambassador to Belgium, Sam Fox, is a descendant of Red Star Line passengers. He shared the story of his parents’ emigration to the United States and how it influenced his life.
