View source for Ostflucht

{{italic title}}
{{short description|19th–20th-century migration of Germans from eastern to western regions of Germany}}
{{for|flight from East Germany|Republikflucht}}

The '''''Ostflucht''''' ({{IPA|de|ˈɔstflʊxt|lang}}; "flight from the East") was the migration of Germans, in the later 19th century and early 20th century, from areas which [[former eastern territories of Germany|were then eastern parts of Germany]] to more industrialized regions in central and western Germany. The migrants originated in [[East Prussia]], [[West Prussia]], [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]] and [[Province of Posen|Posen]]; they moved to provinces along the [[Rhine]] and [[Ruhr (river)|Ruhr]] rivers. Most of the migrants were ethnic Germans, but many migrants to the Ruhr were of [[Polish people|Polish]] ethnicity, later known as ''[[Ruhrpolen]]''.

== Causes ==
The [[United States]], which had been the major destination of emigrants from the German East, lost much of its attraction with the [[American_frontier#End_of_the_frontier|closing of the American frontier]] and the end of large-scale [[land run]]s in the 1890s.<ref>Büsch, Otto; Mieck, Ilja; and Neugebauer, Wolfgang. ''Handbuch der preussischen Geschichte'', Band 3, p. 57</ref> At the same time, the [[Ruhr area]] prospered, leading to high demand for labor, especially in coal mining and heavy industries. This led to an East-to-West migration within the [[Kingdom of Prussia]]. Through 1907, 2,300,000 people emigrated from Prussia's eastern provinces ([[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]], [[West Prussia]], [[East Prussia]], [[Province of Posen|Posen]], and [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]]), while only 358,000 migrated into these provinces.<ref name="Büsch58">Büsch, Mieck, and Neugebauer, p.58</ref> Among the emigrants were 600,000 Poles.<ref>Tomalska, Halina. ''Świat, Europa, Polska 1795-1939'' p. 258 Warsaw 1994</ref> This loss of workforce hit farms, which made up for this by calling in seasonal workers from further east. [[Berlin]] and [[Brandenburg]] in the same time gained 1,200,000 inhabitants, while the [[Ruhr|Ruhr area]] and surrounding provinces ([[Westphalia]] and [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]]) gained 640,000 people.<ref name="Büsch58"/>

At the same time, increased immigration into the eastern German regions by Poles from western Russia caused imbalances and upheavals there, especially in [[Upper Silesia]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

== Reactions ==
The emigration of Germans, and the higher Polish birth rate in the eastern provinces caused concern among German nationalists. This led to some special measures:
* limiting sale of estates to Germans only,
* encouraging Germans to immigrate to the Prussian state,
* creating an ''[[Ansiedlungskommission]]'' ("Settlement Commission") funded by the state, that aimed at buying land from ethnic Poles and selling it to Germans,
* instituting rules which required an ethnic Pole to apply for approval (rarely given) to build a new house on a newly acquired farm.

The sociologist [[Max Weber#Weber and German politics|Max Weber]]{{Broken anchor|date=2025-07-19|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Max Weber#Weber and German politics|reason= The anchor (Weber and German politics) [[Special:Diff/71751213|has been deleted]].|diff_id=71751213}} first came to public attention in Germany as a result of his study of the ''Ostflucht'' and of methods of combatting it, carried out on behalf of the ''[[Verein für Socialpolitik]]''.

==See also==
* [[Drang nach Osten]]
* [[Drzymała's wagon]]
* [[Kulturkampf]]
* [[Landflucht]]
* [[Polonophobia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:19th century in Germany]]
[[Category:Demographic history]]
[[Category:Former eastern territories of Germany]]
[[Category:Historical migrations]]
[[Category:Internal migrations in Europe]]
[[Category:History of Germany–Poland relations]]
[[Category:Prussian Partition]]

{{Germany-hist-stub}}
{{Poland-hist-stub}}