Jakab Réka: Bérlőből polgár. Pápa város zsidó közösségének társadalom- és gazdaságtörténete 1748-1848 (Veszprém, 2014)
be an overarching analysis of these censuses that would make possible a comparative evaluation of the social, economic, demographic and cultural state of Jewry at the time. The demographic and social characteristics we can deduce from the census show the fulfilment of the process of urban integration over the course of the previous hundred years. The sizeable numbers and high proportion among the urban population of the members of Pápa’s Jewish community show that within the legal and social circumstances of the period and a society divided by the privileges of a feudal nobility, the Jews of Pápa were successful in finding their place. The process of the economic, social and cultural integration of Jewry in Pápa was generally comparable to the processes we see in other settlements in Trans-Danubia. There are differences however in its birth and intensity. The process of Jewish immigration had taken place earlier on the Esterházy and Batthány estates along the western border, given the direction of immigration, than in the other centres of great estates in Trans- Danubia. The Jewish community in Pápa came into being largely at the same time as the latter, or rather a few decades before. In the absence of detailed analyses, we did not have the opportunity to compare the processes taking place in the various settlements. We can say that there are general frameworks that tend to apply to the local integration, legal status and type of economic activities of Jews, and that the process was roughly similar in most places. Within these, the position of the Jews of Pápa cannot be said to be extraordinary. But there are significant differences regarding the speed and extent of their integration. This is shown primarily by the high concentration of the population and the large number of immigrants, which shows a tendency to mutual integration on the parts both of the Jewish community and the host environment. The analysis shows the combined effect of these - sometimes opposing - factors in the process of integration that, taken as a whole, contributed to the development of this uniquely large community in a market town. In the absence of similarly detailed analyses, we were not able to produce a comparative study that would have allowed us to answer the question of why - among all the market towns and centres of great estates in the Trans-Danubian region - it was in Pápa and nowhere else that such a large number of Jews found livelihoods. We can only stress Pápa’s specific features. The factors necessary for the settlement and flourishing of this Jewish community were available to the largest extent in the city of Pápa. First and foremost, we must think of the reasoning of the great landowners that saw profit in the economic activities of the Jews and therefore consciously pursued a policy open to their settlement. 305
