DIE GESCHICHTE EINER BÜRGERFAMILIE IN UNGARN DES 19. JAHRHUNDERTS
HISTORY OF A BOURGEOIS FAMILY IN HUNGARY IN THE 19. CENTURY. THE FAMILY ZSOLNAY

Summary/Abstract: The paper is intended to introduce the three levels of upward mobility embodied in three generations of the Zsolnay family: the grandfather, who originated from the middle class, the father, Vilmos Zsolnay, who reached the upper class, and his three children, who continued the family career in a different form. Miklós Zsolnay, born 1800, was the “forerunner”, who laid the foundations of the family fortune. He belonged to that ambitious, prestige-oriented group of urban bourgeoisie that fitted with feudalistic social relationships, and invested in “safe and dignifying” estates, houses and land. His son Vilmos, “the founder”, born 1828, was an early specimen of enterpreneur bourgeoisie, who carried on what he inherited from his father, but on a larger scale. He gradually broke with the traits of middle-class life style. His children represent three different upper-class life styles.

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