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Every year, millions of Americans visit Ellis Island, where their ancestors may have arrived from "the old country." But Europe has many excellent "Ellis Islands in reverse" – museums at the places where millions said goodbye to the land of their birth.

Is there anything more poignant than a person willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their loved ones? That’s the story of many hard-scrabble Europeans heading off to dreamed-of opportunities in far-off America. Others, who faced persecution or even starvation, really had no choice – it was leave or die. Across Europe, you’ll find excellent museums that tell some of these compelling stories.

One of the best is EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum. With so much anxiety surrounding immigration in the US today, this thought-provoking experience reminds visitors how many Americans were just as worried about Irish immigrants 160 years ago.

I had never fully appreciated the Irish diaspora until I visited here. Located in Dublin, EPIC celebrates how the little island of Ireland — with a population that peaked at just 8 million before its period of great immigration — has had an oversized impact on the world. (An estimated 70 million people worldwide now claim Irish heritage.) The museum uses a high-tech approach to explain the forces that scattered so many Irish people around the globe, while historic photos of filthy tenements and early films of bustling urban scenes help you imagine yourself in the shoes of the common Irish emigrant.

On the continent, there are more places to learn about the plight of European emigrants — including the cutting-edge Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, which fills the hall that processed many who passed through this port city on their way to a new life. In late-19th-century Europe, the Industrial Revolution and a tremendous population boom led to political instability and economic difficulties. During the great migration between 1873 and 1935, the Red Star shipping line brought some two million emigrants from Antwerp to New York City.

This was the exit point for people from all over Europe. Jews fleeing pogroms in Tsarist Russia and later Nazi persecution in Germany – among them Irving Berlin, Golda Meir, and Albert Einstein – accounted for at least a quarter of the Red Star Line’s passengers taken across the Atlantic. The 10-day steamer journey transported cargo, luxury travelers, and “steerage-class” peasants alike. Before boarding, emigrants underwent humiliating health exams and nervously waited while clerks processed their paperwork.

The Red Star Line Museum combines personal stories with high-tech presentations to detail the “other end” of the Ellis Island experience. One powerful exhibit – using wraparound video screens – drives home the point that immigration remains as common today as it was in the heyday of Ellis Island. Displays profile immigrants throughout history – from the first humans who left Africa tens of thousands of millennia ago, to migrant workers of today.

In Hamburg, Germany, the engaging BallinStadt Emigration Museum tells the story of those from Germany and beyond who went first to Hamburg, by train or even on foot, before boarding a ship to cross the ocean. Creative themed exhibits give a look at the origins of the five million German emigrants who passed through here, the reasons they chose to leave (from poverty to persecution), their experiences on the transatlantic ships, and their challenges forging a new life in the new land. While the museum has less in the way of actual artifacts, its big, colorful re-creations of living conditions and interactive exhibits offer a dynamic and kid-friendly look at a powerful topic.

For anyone with Swedish heritage, the tidy House of Emigrants in Växjö, Sweden, is a fascinating stop. Its inspiring “Dream of America” exhibit captures the experiences of the nearly 1.3 million Swedes who sought a better life in the American promised land in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Economic woes (and, much like in Ireland, a potato famine) wracked Sweden from the 1850s to the 1920s. Roughly 20 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women who were born in Sweden during the last half of the 19th century left. Rounding out the museum is an exhibit that pays homage to prominent Swedish-Americans – including aviator Charles Lindbergh and the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin – and a research department that can help you trace your Swedish ancestry.

With so many of us owing our lives to ancestors who risked theirs emigrating to the US, it's important to learn about their epic journey. Adding a visit to an emigration museum in Europe can help us appreciate our own heritage, while also giving us greater understanding toward those currently seeking refuge on our own soil.

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(Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European guidebooks, hosts travel shows on public TV and radio, and organizes European tours. This column revisits some of Rick's favorite places over the past two decades. You can email Rick at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.)

©2026 Rick Steves. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

(c)2026 RICK STEVES DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.