Norddeutsche Hafenstädte um 1800: Altona, Kiel, Rostock und Wismar: ein sozialgeschichtlicher Vergleich

Abstract

Analysiert werden die Sozialstruktur und mögliche soziale Veränderungen in vier Hafenstädten um 1800: Altona, Kiel, Rostock und Wismar. Als Quellen dienen Einwohnerlisten und Steuerregister, aus denen über 70.000 Fälle in die Datenbasis aufgenommen wurden und die nach einer statistischen Auswertung Auskunft über die Arbeitssituation und die wirtschaftliche Stärke der Haushalte geben. Ausgehend von den Systemen der Besteuerung in Holstein und Mecklenburg sowie von der Entwicklung sozialer Polarisation werden im Ergebnis unterschiedliche Profile der vier Städte ausgemacht: Altona war ein Zentrum für Handel, Verkehr und Bankwesen; Kiel eine Handels- und Universitätsstadt; Rostock ein Zentrum von Verkehr und Handel, ergänzend auch als Universitätsstadt; Wismar eine Stadt des Handels und Verkehrs, obgleich weniger wichtig als die anderen Städte. Während Altona und Rostock wirklich wichtige Seehäfen mit vergleichbaren Funktionen in Handel und Dienstleistungen waren, bewahrte Kiel mehr eine traditionelle soziale Struktur. Wismar blieb zurück mit unterentwickelten Dienstleistungen und einem vergleichsweise hohen Anteil an ungelernter Arbeit. (prh)

'The research project Seaports in Northern Germany in 1800 aimed to analyze the social structure and possible social change in four cities: Altona, Kiel, Rostock, and Wismar. The sources are census lists and tax registers from which about 70,000 cases were written into databases. Two items of social structure will be statistically analyzed in this article: employment and economic strength (measured in taxation) of the households. As a result, different profiles of the four cities can be traced. The vocational structure was urban as the first economic sector was unimportant, though there were some activities in fishing in Rostock and Wismar. The second and the third sector reached equal levels in Altona, Kiel, and Rostock, whereas in Wismar the third sector was clearly weaker. Within the second sector we mostly find conformity in the basic equipment with crafts on the following ranks of branches: 1. clothing, 2. building, 3. victualling, 4. timber- and woodcraft, 5. metal processing crafts. The third sector, however, shows special profiles with different ranks. Altona: 1. commerce, 2. transportation, 3. banking and insurances, 4. health and hygiene, 5. teaching and culture on equal level with accommodation; Kiel: 1. commerce, 2. teaching and culture, 3. transportation, 4. accommodation, 5. health and hygiene; Rostock: 1. transportation, 2. commerce, 3. teaching and culture, 4. accommodation, 5. health and hygiene; Wismar: 1. commerce, 2. transportation, 3. health and hygiene, 4. teaching and culture, 5. accommodation. Hence we may infer that Altona was a centre of commerce, transportation, and banking; Kiel a commercial and university city; Rostock a centre of transportation and commerce, additionally a university city; Wismar a town of commerce and transportation, though clearly less important than her sisters. Unskilled labour had significantly less importance in Altona and Rostock than in Kiel and Wismar, which indicates similarity in higher developed professionalised employment in both Altona and Rostock. Solvency, measured in taxation, reveals different patterns of social inequality. Calculated within the systems of taxation in Holstein and Mecklenburg, the lower classes were more numerous in Altona than in Kiel, the middle classes stronger in Kiel, whereas the upper classes reached equal proportions, but payed higher amounts in Altona. on a lower level, which is mainly due to a slightly digressive taxation in Mecklenburg, the same difference existed between Rostock and Wismar. Thus in the cities of Altona and Rostock social polarization was more significant than in Kiel and Wismar, which seem to have been more harmonious in their social structure. If we suppose that sophisticated services and proceeding social polarization were signs of preindustrial modernization, the four cities may be characterized as follows. Altona and Rostock were real seaports with similar functions in commerce and services. Kiel preserved a more traditional social structure, stabilized by its function as a university town. Wismar remained backward with underdeveloped services and a comparatively high proportion of unskilled labour. The databases allow further research, for example in demography or, combined with maps, in social geography.' (author's abstract)