Tolna Megyei Levéltári Füzetek 12. Tanulmányok (Szekszárd, 2009)

Summary

SUMMARY György Steib Lajos Sztrilich The author introduces one of the famous personalities of Tolna county, who lived in the last century. The study follows Lajos Sztrilich's life, who was born in Zombor in 1903 and died in 1979. Having carried out thorough research the writer draws a picture of that family milieu in which he grew up, and then we can get to know his useful activities from graduating as a doctor in 1930 until the end of his life. As an optometrist, and later, as the director of the Trachoma Welfare-Centre in Bonyhád, he worked hard to reduce the trachoma, which was endemic in the Völgység region in those years. He became the first director of the hospital that had hundred beds in 1959, and which was developed into a hospital from a welfare-centre. He was honoured with several awards for his everyday work, his public and musical activities. Dr. Jenő Csordás The Reasons of Child-mortality in Tolna county (1869-1940) Significant population changes took place in our county in 45 years (1869-1940). While the number of inhabitants increased slightly (from 257,000 to 266,000), natality reduced from 36.7%o to 18.5%o, and the death-rate reduced from 22.9%o to 15.5%o. Along with these changes the natural reproductive index decreased drastically, from 13.8%o to 2.9%o. In absolute numbers it can be traced back to the 48% decrease of the birth-rate and the 30% decrease of the death-rate. But this is not the only quantitative change that is typical of the first decades of the 20

th century, we can notice a remarkable qualitative transformation: while the proportion of infant and children deaths was 52 % of the total deaths at the beginning of the period, this rate was 19.5 % at the