The Ostflucht (flight from the East) was a movement by residents of the former eastern territories of Germany, such as East Prussia, West Prussia, Silesia and Province of Posen beginning around 1850, to the more industrialized western German Rhine and Ruhr provinces.
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Berlin and Brandenburg in the same time gained 1,200,000 inhabitants, while the Ruhr area and surrounding provinces (Westphalia and Palatinate) gained 640,000 people.
Afterwards the party, which furthermore lost votes as Germans moved from rural areas to new industrial centers in the west (Ostflucht), forged an electoral alliance with the Christian Social Party under Adolf Stoecker.
In the late 19th century, some Germans moved westward during the Ostflucht, while others were settled in Central Poland by a Prussian Settlement Commission.