Germany
Hanseatic Cities: Highlights of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen
Program No. 23867RJ
Learn about the history of German emigration as you explore the hanseatic cities of Northern Germany and trace your own family history with insight from local experts and genealogists.
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8 days
7 nights
13 meals
6B 3L 4D
At a Glance
In 14th-century Northern Germany, bands of merchants rallied together to establish the Hanseatic League – a collection of towns that traded resources along the coast. In the 19th century, millions of Germans passed through on their way to a new life in America, and Northern Germany is still a hotspot for immigration today. With Hamburg, the “gateway to the world,” as your home base, explore the history of German emigration through expert-led lectures and field trips to the Hanseatic Cities of Lübeck and Bremen. With plenty of time to explore on your own, visit medieval towns and memorials, sample regional cuisine and trace your own family’s history with exclusive access to the emigration database at the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walking 2-3 miles per day, sometimes on uneven surfaces and cobblestone streets. Standing up to 2 hours at field trip sites and museums. Must be able to use public transportation and climb stairs in historic buildings.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Learn about Hamburg’s important role in emigration as the “gateway to the world” and research your own family’s journey at the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven.
- Explore the medieval old town of Lübeck, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the charming cobblestone alleys of Bremen, the inspiration for a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
- Explore the vibrant port of Hamburg on a scenic harbor cruise, passing by the city's historic warehouses, modern architecture, and bustling docks, all set against the backdrop of the majestic Elbe River.
General Notes
Program includes independent time to explore the city and several meals on your own. Group Leaders will provide directions for self-directed excursions. Suggestions for free-time activities provided in preparatory materials. Give us a call to combine this learning adventure with “Berlin: Two Pasts, One Present” (#16952) for even more learning in Germany! We'll even transfer you for free between Berlin and Hamburg.
Suggested Reading List
(12 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Hanseatic Cities: Highlights of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen
Program Number: 23867
Germany: Memories of a Nation
Provides an insightful look into German history and culture through the lens of objects and artifacts.
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Germans to America: 300 Years of Immigration 1683-1983
A look at German immigration into America. Nice book for genealogy or those interested in the immigration of Germans. Lots of photos and illustrations.
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Germany: A New History
An accessible overview of German history, focusing on key events and developments. The author, Hagen Schulze (31 July 1943 – 4 September 2014) was a German historian who held a position at the Free University of Berlin. He specialized in early modern and modern German and European history, particularly in comparative European nationalisms. He was a visiting fellow in Oxford and in Princeton.
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This house is mine
All her life Vera has felt like a stranger in the old and drafty half-timbered farmhouse she arrived at as a five-year-old refugee from East Prussia in 1945, and yet she can’t seem to let it go. Sixty years later, her niece Anne suddenly shows up at her door with her small son. Anne has fled the trendy Hamburg, Germany neighborhood she never fit into after her relationship imploded. Vera and Anne are strangers to each other but have much more in common than they think. As the two strong-willed and very different women share the great old house, they find what they have never thought to search for: a family.
The Shortest History of Germany
A concise and engaging account of Germany's history, helping to contextualize its present.
The German Way: Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs in the German-Speaking World
A useful guide to understanding German customs, etiquette, and social norms.
A Companion to the Hanseatic League
The Companion to the Hanseatic League discusses the importance of the Hanseatic League for the social and economic history of pre-modern northern Europe. Established already as early as the twelfth century, the towns that formed the Hanseatic League created an important network of commerce throughout the Baltic and North Sea area. From Russia in the east, to England and France in the west, the cities of the Hanseatic League created a vast northern maritime trade network. The aim of this volume is to present a “state” of the field English-language volume by some of the most respected Hanse scholars.
Buddenbrooks: decline of a family
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author's former neighbors in his native Lübeck.
As he charts the Buddenbrooks' decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence and madness, Mann ushers the reader into a world of rich vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip and earthy humor. It is perhaps the first great family saga of modern literature, and it brought to public notice a writer of world stature who, three decades later, was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Hanseatic League - A History of the Rise and Fall of the Hansa Towns
There is scarcely a more remarkable chapter in history than that which deals with the trading alliance or association known as the Hanseatic League. The League has long since passed away, having served its time and fulfilled its purpose. The needs and circumstances of mankind have changed, and new methods and new instruments have been devised for carrying on the commerce of the world. Yet, if the League has disappeared, the beneficial results of its action survive to Europe, though they have become so completely a part of our daily life that we accept them as matters of course, and do not stop to inquire into their origin. To us moderns it seems but natural that there should be security of intercourse between civilized nations, that highways should be free from robbers, and the ocean from pirates.
