The battle for the province had reduced almost 2,000 villages and nearly 40 towns in East Prussia partly to rubble and ashes. Particularly affected was southern and eastern Masuria with cities such as Neidenburg (today Nidzica) or Lyck (today Ełk).
A wave of solidarity developed in the rest of the empire. Towns were twinned and the "East Prussia Aid" collected many millions of German marks. Together with state support, the cities were not only rebuilt, but also modernised. For the first time many of them received sewerage systems, electric street lighting and paving also for side streets, which they often had ahead of small towns in the western part of the empire in the 1920s.
The impressive assistance reconciled Masurian and Lithuanian-speaking East Prussians with the German Reich, that had initially had difficulty with its nationality policy after the founding of the Reich. The joint military service had also promoted their knowledge of German.
Illustration:
In Kaukehmen (today Jasnoje), Niederung district, redeemed bread cards for 50 grammes of bread or 36 grammes of flour, May/June 1918
The battles in the summer of 1914 had largely destroyed the harvest, so that already in the spring of 1915 bread coupons were introduced. Men and horses were called up for military service so that also in the following years there were no good harvests. Even in rural areas there was a bitter shortage, which was aggravated by quartering and confiscations. The "turnip winter" of 1916/17 remained a terrible memory.