15 Facts About Albert Ballin

Albert Ballin was the general director of the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft or Hamburg-America Line, which for a time was the world's largest shipping company.

Albert Ballin was a risk-taker who was willing to challenge his colleagues, foreign competitors, and domestic politics in order to build a successful shipping company.

Albert Ballin focused on British rivals and was determined to expand HAPAG's global reach, he worked closely with the Kaiser and supported expansion of the German navy.

In 1901, Ballin built the Emigration Halls on the Hamburg island of Veddel to accommodate the many thousands of people from all over Europe who arrived at the Port of Hamburg every week to emigrate to North and South America on his company's ships.

Albert Ballin's father, Samuel Joseph Ballin, was a Danish Jew who had emigrated from Denmark.

Samuel was part owner of an emigration agency that arranged passages to the United States, and when he died in 1874, young Albert Ballin took over the business.

Albert Ballin developed it into an independent shipping line, saving costs by carrying cargo on the return trip from the US.

Albert Ballin developed a plan to increase occupancy by offering idle ships to travel agencies in Europe and America in the winter.

Competitors at first ridiculed Albert Ballin, who organized and supervised the voyage personally, but the project was a huge success.

In 1901, Albert Ballin built the Emigration Halls on the Hamburg island of Veddel to accommodate the many thousands of people from all over Europe who arrived at the Port of Hamburg every week to emigrate to North and South America on his company's ships.

Albert Ballin frequently traveled on the ships in his fleet and often spoke to other passengers to understand more about the ships and what improvements to make to Hamburg Amerika ships in the future.

Albert Ballin would take these ideas for improvements in hand and make sure they were implemented on both his current and future liners.

Ballin acted as mediator between Great Britain and the German Empire in the tense years prior to the outbreak of World War I Terrified that he would lose his ships in the event of naval hostilities, Ballin attempted to broker a deal whereby Britain and Germany would continue to race one another in passenger liners but desist in their attempts to best one another's naval fleets.

Completely distraught upon hearing the news of the abdication of his benefactor and protector, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Ballin committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills two days before the armistice ended World War I Ballin's fears were soon to be realized; the company's flagships, the triumvirate Imperator, Vaterland and Bismarck, were ceded as war prizes to Great Britain and the United States.

The Albert Ballin was named in his honor, as is the Ballindamm, a street in central Hamburg.