A zsidó népesseg száma településenként 1840–1941 (1993)

INTRODUCTION

should be noted that in Volume 1 of 1941 (12th year) of the Hungárián Statistical Review this number was assessed to be 100,000. (Subsequently, this population size was taken over by many authors dealing with the problems of the Holocaust while others are using the official number of 62,000.) It must be alsó taken intő consideration that these data on the sizes of population by localities already do not show a completely authentic picture with regard to 1941. It is presumed that there may have been people who tried to change their classification by religion, though the rigor of the law prevented most of these attempts. A great number of men of the Israelite religion were already in forced labour batallions or dead and, consequently, missing from the population size of their respective locality. The régiónál division of 1941 is important alsó because after the end of World War II spatial population movements (changes of places of residence) were extremely significant. A great many survivors of the Israelite religion — or of the Christian religions who had been formerly classified as Jews — independently from their former places of residence — continued their life, after their liberation, in the present area of Hungary. Besides the régiónál division, the selection of the time points is to be dealt with once more, especially from the point of view of the possibility of historical evaluation. At the selection of the time points, Hungárián population censuses were considered first of all. On this basis, the time series could have been started from 1869 but at the population census of that year data on religion were not published in a breakdown by communes. Consequently, from the series of the Hungárián population censuses the first communication regards the year of 1880. In view of the limitations of the financial resources and of the volume of the communication not all data could be published and, consequently, besides the data of the 1880 population census, the data of the 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1941 population censuses were taken into consideration. Of the years 1900 and 1910 the latter was chosen since that was the year of the last population census regarding historical Hungary. One had alsó to explore the possibility to ensure a longer time series. For this purpose it was found appropriate to use the 1840 data compiled by Elek Fényes which were collected from the originál volumes. Before the further exposure of the methodological and other questions a small deviation with regard to the subjest-matter must be made. The period presented ends in the year of 1941 but it is perhaps not without interest to mention here the data of the 1949 population census by county lines because these data show the number of the survivors. (Without the number of those deceased and, respectively, born between 1945 and 1949). It is impossible to establish the number of those survivors who left the country, emigrated or settled down in somé other country between 1945 and the population census of 1949. The number of those who — as it was indicated above — had not lived in the area of Trianon Hungary, is unknown, similarly to the assimilation process (which went on in the meantime primarily as a result of mixed marriages) and nobody knows the number of people liberated in concentration camps, or perhaps in other places, mainly in the West, but never again returned to Hungary. Even with all the above consideration these data are very interesting since they form the basis of all kinds of retrospective calculations and of comparisons with every subsequent data survey. 14