Migration and urbanization in the Ruhr Valley, 1821-1914

the long version

Migration and Urbanization in the Ruhr Valley, 1821-1914 analyzes the human consequences of urbanization and geographical mobility for residents of Duisburg in the Ruhr Valley of Germany during the century-long transition from an agrarian order to the industrial era. By documenting the dynamism of Duisburg's population before the arrival of heavy industry, the continued interdependence of urban and rural life into the industrial era, and the importance of households and social networks during the entire nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this study reshapes the conventional understanding of central European migration patterns. It also reveals social realities that were apparent neither to contemporaries nor to many historians - for instance that the highly visible movement of ethnic minorities and foreigners to Duisburg was actually dwarfed by the migrations of regional folk, that local migration had far more impact than either emigration to North America or the appearance of Poles in the Western regions, and that a powerful ideology of return impelled migrants to maintain rural contacts.