Jakab Réka: Bérlőből polgár. Pápa város zsidó közösségének társadalom- és gazdaságtörténete 1748-1848 (Veszprém, 2014)

Secondly, but just as importantly, the geographical location of the city (and the proximity of Győr), its natural properties (a source of water to provide power being available even in winter), its legal status (privileges), economic environment, role as a marketplace, and the developed nature of its trade and crafts industries, all served to provide the necessary background for the activities of the Jewish community. The confluence of these favourable factors determined the chances of success and the quality of life as well. This provides the background to the constant and rapid growth of the city’s Jewish community. The favourable environment made it possible to undertake activities and businesses that required further manpower. Thus, the developing community itself - needing their hands - was able to generate livelihoods for more and more immigrants.

The settlement of Jews and the guarantee of a chance to make a living was a source of conflict between the estates and the city. The factors necessary for their success and the growth of their community were both dependent on the landowner, and his decisions almost always were to the detriment of the interests of the urban bourgeoisie. Presenting these primarily economic conflicts of interest, the results expand our current knowledge of the history of Jewry in this period from the point of view both of the estates and the city. The city’s bourgeoisie, which enjoyed significant privileges, was not able to exercise decisive influence on the processes taking place in this centre of a great estate. The principal factor in the integration of local Jewry was their economic activity. This played a role in their initial settlement and determined their chances of success, social relationships and conflicts as well. Based on the documents available, in the period examined we found no concrete examples of a rejection of, or separation from, the Jewish community that overrode any sort of economic considerations or endangered the possibility of a profit. This was true for housing, sales of real estate, tax, privileges from the landowner, and local trade and industry. Business relationships and economic potential had a determining impact on social integration. This explains why we mostly find examples of social conflicts between the Jewish community and its surroundings in the sources available for our period that are rooted in some sort of economic conflict of interest.

The processes this book tries to demonstrate and describe can be closely linked to the problems surrounding the birth of a bourgeoisie in general. One of the drivers of the start of the development of a bourgeoisie in Hungarian society was the need for the dissolution of feudal ties, and this was primarily formulated in economic terms. For the success of the Jewish communities, the ability to get around feudal frameworks and their deconstruction was essential. In this respect, the idea of legal emancipation mooted at feudal