the region. Most Germans moved to work in the industrial heartland of western Germany, while others migrated abroad. Poles and Lithuanians of East Prussia also had much higher birth-rate and natural increase rates than the Germans, and rarely emigrated. Discussing the situation in East Prussia, Polish geographer Stanislaw Srokowski remarked:

The Memel Territory (Klaipeda region), formerly part of northeastern East Prussia as well as Prussian Lithuania,