Ostflucht
The
Ostflucht (east flight) was the movement of the German population of
East Prussia,
West Prussia,
Silesia and
Province of Posen beginning around 1850, to the more industrialized Rhine and Ruhr provinces. The loss of Germans and the higher Polish birth rate in these areas caused concern among German nationalist. The result was speciall laws concerning
- limiting sales of estates to Germans,
- encouraging Germans to immigrate to the Prussian state,
- colonisation agency, fund from state budget that aimed at buying off the land from Poles and selling them to Germans,
- procedure that required a Pole to apply for approval (never given) to build a new house on newly aquired farm, see also Drzymala car.
