An American family has presented the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp with a ticket for the boat to New York dating from 1911. Jakob Sternbuch emigrated from Antwerp to America in the early 20th century, along with millions of others. His grandson Steve Rosen has now loaned his ticket to the museum. Together with several family members he travelled to Antwerp to make the presentation.
American donates his grandfather’s Red Star Line ticket to Antwerp museum: “I owe my life to it,” Steve says
Colin Clapson
Published:
Five Americans visited the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp this week for a special family occasion. Steve Rosen had in his hand a ticket from 1911 belonging to his grandfather, Jakob Sternbuch. At the time, Sternbuch fled from Moldova to Antwerp to board the ship bound for New York at the Eilandje.
Rosen and his four family members were clearly moved when the ticket was handed over at the museum. “The ticket is incredibly important to our family history,” he said. “We owe our lives to the Red Star Line. My grandfather left in February 1911, my grandmother in November of that year.”
The family didn’t want to send the ticket by post. “I felt it was important to come and hand it over in person,” Rosen continues. “I visited the museum for the first time last year, and the museum asked me if they could display the ticket. That was a great honour.”
Onboard menu and permitted luggage
Around 2 million people made the same crossing as Jakob and Sarah Sternbuch. "Yet we didn’t have a single ticket from the period when they made the crossing," explains Greet Voorhoof of the Red Star Line Museum. "It’s wonderful that it’s now back in its original place."
The museum now has the ticket in loan for three years and will first study and treat it thoroughly before putting it on display. “On the front, we can see, among other things, the passenger’s name and how much the ticket cost, but the back is also very interesting,” says Voorhoof.
"It actually lists what the ship’s onboard menu was, how much luggage you were allowed to take, and that a doctor was available free of charge. All the terms and conditions of travel are listed there, just as they are on a flight ticket today."