OUR LECTURES

The story of the General Slocum tragedy begins in the German neighborhood known as Kleindeutchland, or Little Germany located on the Lower East Side of NYC and was home to New York’s German immigrant population since they first began arriving in the 1840s.  On June 15, 1904, one of its churches held their annual outing and 1300 members of its congregation  boarded the General Slocum. Within two hours 1,000 people, mostly women and children, had died making this fire the largest maritime disaster in NYC history.  Karen T. Lamberton discusses this disaster and NYC’s German-American community at the dawn of the 20^th century through personal recollections of survivors and their families, good Samaritans and heroes, and caregivers at the scene.  Ms. Lamberton is the author of the book, Angels in the Gate:  New York City and the General Slocum Disaster.