The United States, which had been the major destination of emigrants from the German East, lost much of its attraction with the closing of the American frontier and the end of large-scale land runs in the 1890s.
[1] At the same time, the Ruhr area prospered, leading to high demand for labor, especially in coal mining and heavy industries.
[3] This loss of workforce hit farms, which made up for this by calling in seasonal workers from further east.
[2] 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.
This led to some special measures: The sociologist Max Weber 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.