By 1908, this sentiment had progressed to the point where the Commission could confiscate Polish estates under an Expropriation Law.[1][2] Whilst academics have noted the severity of this policy agenda shift, in numerical terms the success of its outcomes are less emphatic.[5] Although, there is consensus among experts as to the high extent to which these policies stoked nationalism in Prussia's Polish citizens' collective conscience, encouraging their continued resistance to assimilation.[9][5] For instance, newspapers such as the The Torun Gazette (Gazeta Toruńska) specifically opposed the Germanisation of Polish-speaking provinces, contributing to the cultural resistance of the Polish.[9] Overall, opposition to German rule was successful as in the wake of the First World War, Poland was restored to Europe as an independent nation at Germany's territorial expense, with the separation of East Prussia from the remainder of Germany.[5]