In the 19th century many East Prussians emigrated to America, the "Promised Land" without a king and church. It also drove them to the Ruhr area, where the fate of industrial workers was not easy but where they could find better-paid work. Gelsenkirchen, for example, developed into the centre of Polish-speaking Protestant Masurians.
In addition to a high birth rate, the agricultural reforms were also a trigger of these migrations. Farmers and manorial workers were freed from personal dependencies and official duties. At last free choice of place and occupation was permitted. However, they had to pay compensation to the lord of the manor, mostly in the form of land. Many farms shrank so much that they had to be sold – farmers became day labourers. The landlord's duties to protect his farmers were also a thing of the past, for example in the event of poor harvests, epidemics, lightning strikes or illness. Unemployment was high – emigration seemed to many to be the only prospect.
Illustration:
Käthe Kollwitz – Reflecting Woman, 1920
The reforms made independent entrepreneurs of farming families who now worked at their own risk. Falling grain prices quickly led to the forced sale of farms. The poverty of the lower classes was exacerbated by mechanisation eliminating rural ancillary industries such as linen weaving, which had contributed to the total income of small farmers.