The Holland-America Line (HAL) was originally a shipping company that maintained an ocean route between the Netherlands and the United States. Before the days of air travel, the Rotterdam-New York journey played an important role for emigrants from Europe to America. During the 1930s, thousands of Europeans departed on one of the HAL ships, traveling from the Wilhelmina dock in Rotterdam to the United States, in search of a better life or a safe refuge. Many left their native countries forever in order to escape the growing threat of the nazi regime. This was also the case for Erich Collin, Roman Cycowski, and Harry Frommermann, all of whom sang in the famous Comedian Harmonists, and all three of whom were Jewish. They fled from Germany after the Nazis had disbanded their ensemble; ultimately they emigrated to the USA. America was not just the land of the free; it was a world power in the music business. European musicians had already been drawing inspiration from American examples for many years; the Comedian Harmonists, first set up in Berlin by Harry Frommermann in emulation of the American Revelers, were no exception.