Aspects of Change in a Nineteenth-Century German Village

Abstract

Using coordinated nineteenth-century birth, marriage, and death records for Catholics and Jews in Altdorf, this analysis investigates the relation between social, economic, and cultural factors and demographic behavior. The constraints of the village economy severely restricted the number of people who could make a livelihood in the village. Yet, improved adult mortality and high fertility created a potential population surplus. The Catholics-mostly farmers and craftsmen-responded not with a restriction of fertility but with the heavy out-migration of young people. Jews-primarily tradesmen and cattle dealers- exhibited mortality consistently lower than that of Catholics; Jewish fertility was initially high, but showed clear signs of limitation by 1870-1899. By midcentury, almost all the Jewish children born in the village who survived to adulthood had left Altdorf, as had a large proportion of their parents. The more dramatic response of the village's Jews is seen as a reaction both to their declining econom ic role in Altdorf and to their increasing assumption of more modern, urban values and life styles. Catholic response thus served to preserve the traditional village life styles whereas the Jewish response accelerated their modernization.