Forrai Ibolya szerk.: Néprajzi Közlemények 32. évfolyam - Besenyőtelki életutak, A századforduló szülöttei (Budapest, 1990)

Summary - Path of life in Besenyőtelek - Born at the turn of the century (P. Szuhay E. Örszigethy)

established. The administrative reform of 1886 has brought about apolitical unification of the nobility and „non-nobility". From that date onwards, in pronciple any adult men could participate in the actual management of the village. Some of the village provosts (village notary, physician) were automatically members of the village administration, other obtained the right based on their wealth, still other were elected to their position. Up to the 1930-es the population of the village kept on growing fast. The census at the end of the 18-th century registered over 1 700 inhabitants the number of which grew to 2 200 by 1822, and to 3 700 by 1930. That rapid growth was due basically to large family sizes. In the 18-th century there were over 10 children in the families, of which 5 had reached marriage age; at the end of the 19-th century the average number of children per family was still 5, of which 3 reached marriage age. In the 19-th century endogenetic marriages were tipical of the village, the rate of those remaining in the village was high, thus by the turn of the century the village was overpopulated and there was a strong social différenciation between the families. The biographies the people of the village present describe the situation which prevailed in the first half of the 20-es century. They speak of a period which included two wars, revolutions, political-ideological metamorphoses, economic progresses and regressions, restructurings of the national economy, natural and forced demographic changes and habitat-structural alterations. The stories retold reflect a social structure which is still difficult to describe scientifically, and describe the social layers of local society. We have tried to include in the volume interviews which represent trades and professions tipical to the society which existed between the two world wars, as that was the most active part of the life of that generation. It was due to that principle that we have labourers, craftsmen, peasant and enterpreneur-type caterer one next to the other. However the selection was not ment to present types. Rather it shows that the generations coming after each other seldom followed the trade of their fathers, or if some did it was not because they wanted to follow something they considered ad ideal. The interviews were ment to be supplements to the research to help studying the possible paths of life in Besenyőtelek. That was why when making the interviews we tried to consistently clarify objective facts and conditions. We wanted to register regular biographies which would provide information on the homes, occupation and economic conditions of the subjects and their families, the formal and informal relations between them. Very few