Jakab Réka: Bérlőből polgár. Pápa város zsidó közösségének társadalom- és gazdaságtörténete 1748-1848 (Veszprém, 2014)
Danubia. Contemporary data show that the greatest amount of potassium carbonate was produced and shipped from Veszprém county. In this period, the production of ash for this process also became an almost exclusively Jewish trade. On the basis of data from the 1730s and 40s, we can determine that in almost every village on the Pápa estates, the ‘ash-houses’ were leased by Jews. The livelihoods of the majority of the Jewish families in Pápa were derived from trade. At least half the earning heads of family, but at times as many as 70% of them, were engaged in trade and by the end of our period, we can see a wide variety of types of trade represented in the 1848 census. The city’s Jews were involved both in local (market and shop-based) and long-distance trade. The total value and amount of capital invested by Jewish merchants grew more and more imposing in our period. In Pápa, Jewish merchants were actively represented in every level of the city’s economic life. There was a small class of wealthier Jews (or quaestors in the censuses) who generally traded in wheat, crops and animals and who amassed a significant amount of capital. It was these traders who distributed the produce of the estates through their extensive trade networks. The buyers for the Esterházy estate were wealthy wheat and flour traders from Pápa who had secured the monopoly on buying the estates’ wheat. In several cases, they also loaned significant amounts to the city and the landowner. The vast majority of merchants catered for local needs and traded in smaller amounts, in shops and grocer’s stores. At the bottom of the scale were the house-to-house salesmen, market traders, women who sold at market, and itinerant traders. Thanks to favourable circumstances, Pápa was home to a significant industry processing leather and skins. The raw materials for this were provided by Jewish merchants, who amassed and sold enormous stocks. The weekly markets in the city and country-wide fairs ensured constant trade for the Jews as well, who could rent temporary or permanent plots in return for payment and erect stalls. At the turn of the 19th century, the majority of market trade - excepting the artisans from the guilds - was undertaken by Jewish merchants. The city records show again and again complaints regarding the markets and the overwhelming number of Jewish traders. The proportion of Jews in artisanal trades was well below that of their coreligionists engaged in trade. In Pápa, those with permission to settle could pursue any trade on all the days of the year with the provision that they had to respect the Catholic holidays. Jews, accustomed to changing profession flexibly due to the uncertainty of their circumstances, often moved between trade, craftsmanship, or the leasing and exploitation of some kind of licence (especially early on). By the 19th century, the lines were З03
