Societies of the 20th and 21st centuries are, at their core, societies of inheritance and family. An individual’s prospects of wealth and social status have been, and remain, heavily dependent on their familial background. A central factor in this was the deeply rooted conviction among the population that property should primarily be passed on to the next generation within the family. Consequently, the transfer of assets always raised the question of who actually belonged to the family and on what basis these individuals’ inheritance rights were established.

In his lecture, Jürgen Dinkel traces the history of inheritance in the transatlantic space since approximately 1800. He demonstrates how governments, families, and individuals repeatedly negotiated the transfer and distribution of estates, thereby also renegotiating their understanding of family and specific familial constellations. Ultimately, instances of inheritance represented moments that generated, updated, or even challenged the social fabric of the family.