Auswanderermuseum Oberalben

Volunteer-run museum in a converted barn on around 300 years of emigration from the Palatinate, mainly to North America.

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About the museum

The idea for the museum arose in 1988: the Gilcherpetersche Scheune in Oberalben, built around 1750, was to be demolished. Because the village wanted to keep its closed street front, and funding was tied to a specific use, the idea of an emigration museum emerged. The owner gave up the barn for the symbolic price of one Deutsche Mark, and an architectural team planned the conversion. The house was inaugurated on November 6, 1993.

It is run by the friends' association (Förderverein) founded in 1990, which has almost 100 members. With exhibits and display panels, the exhibition traces the path of emigrants from official permission through the crossing to settlement in their new homeland. Most went to North America, others to Brazil, Australia or Ireland; the view spans around 300 years and focuses in particular on human fates. The museum was advised by historians from Bremerhaven, among others, and by the Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde (Institute for Palatine History and Folklore) in Kaiserslautern.

Beyond the exhibition, the house sees itself as a meeting place: there are, among other things, jazz morning sessions, Irish evenings, craft markets, a museum pub and a museum café.

Highlights

Converted barn from 1750
Path of emigrants from permission to arrival
Destinations including North America, Brazil, Australia and Ireland
Museum pub and museum café
Run by volunteers from the friends' association

Permanent exhibition

Pfälzische Auswanderung – The permanent exhibition uses exhibits and display panels to show how people from the Palatinate emigrated over around 300 years, which permits they needed and where they settled.

Founded: 1993
Operated by: Förderverein Auswanderermuseum Oberalben e.V.