Post by Katrin Traoré

More than 400 guests, many of them dressed in red, white, and blue, just as the invitation had suggested, joined in singing Happy Birthday as U.S. Consulate General Hamburg Scott Woodard and Hamburg's Finance Senator Andreas Dressel cut the birthday cake celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States at Das Auswanderermuseum BallinStadt Hamburg. The venue could hardly have been more meaningful. Between 1850 and 1939, Hamburg served as the gateway to a new life for more than five million European emigrants, many of them German. Fleeing political and religious persecution, or simply hoping to escape poverty and hunger, they left the Old World in search of opportunity. In 1901, Albert Ballin, Director General of the Hamburg America Line, established accommodation for the thousands of emigrants arriving from across Europe. In his speech, Scott Woodard reflected on the dreams and hopes of those emigrants and on the promise of freedom that lies at the heart of the United States and its Declaration of Independence. He also spoke about a friendship that has endured through both good times and difficult moments over the centuries. Joachim Herz Stiftung