After the Russian evacuation in the summer of 1915, the Kingdom of Poland came under the German and Austrian occupation. For the Jews, this meant liberation from the barbarian Russian rule, but the occupiers’ ruthless exploitation of the country contributed to the poverty of the population and to the worsening of the Polish-Jewish relations. However, the occupiers’ liberal cultural policies, their introduction of free municipal and local elections, as well as equal rights for Polish Jews advanced the development of the civil society and the growing political significance of Ostjuden.