HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY AS SOCIAL HISTORY: POSSIBILITIES IN GERMANY

would like to thank Margot Winde for translating this article into English; and Gerald Soliday for his editorial assistance. Aspects of the research reported on here were supported by funds from the Deutsch Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Volkswagen Foun-dation. The development of historical demography since World War II is connected all over the world with the names of French and English scholars, such as Louis Henry, Pierre Goubert, E. A. Wrigley, T. H. Hollingsworth, to name only some of the most prominent. Usually they are assumed to be the founders of family reconstitution, the method which is the basis of today’