The Influence of the Rules of Succession on the Structure of Hungarian and German Families of Southern Transdanubia in the Early 20th Century

The topic of the article is the influence of the rules and customs of succession on the family structures and life strategies in Southern Transdanubia. At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists and the local administration observed significant differences between the demographical structures of the Hungarian and German inhabitants in both Tolna and Baranya counties. While a significant part of the Hungarian rural population followed the “single-child-policy” (“egyke” in Hungarian), German families in the same area did not have this concept. It was observed, that the villages with families following the singlechild-policy kept losing population and were endangered by a demographical collapse. Seeking the reasons behind the single-child-policy, the rules of succession were identified as the main difference between the Hungarian and German population. The German population practiced the so-called primogeniture (Anerbenrecht), probably brought along from the early 18th century Southern Germany, meaning that one single successor inherits the entire land asset of the family. In contrast, the custom of the Hungarian population was a proportional succession. As all heirs inherited part of the land asset, it fragmented from generation to generation. To avoid this, the rural population developed the singlechild-policy, which, on the one hand, was very effective in preventing the fragmentation of family assets and became an unwritten law in several villages, but on the other hand it caused radical demographical changes. Different measures to prevent the single-child policy didn’t have a markable effect.