THE’South Tyrol (also called South Tyrol), with capital Bolzanois a majority inhabited territory by population German languagebut belongs to Italy for historical reasons. After the First World War, he was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy on the basis of Principle of “natural borders”That is, it was stated that, from a geographical point of view, it belonged to Italy and no longer to the Empire of Austria. During fascism the German population was subjected to forced Italianization, but after the Second World War, the De Gasperi-Gruber agreementsstill in force today, they guaranteed the right to use the German language in all public and private areas. South Tyrol is thus a case of successful integration of a linguistic minority.
What is South Tyrol/South Tyrol
South Tyrol, called South Tyrol by German -speaking citizens, is an alpine territory and today coincides with the Autonomous province of Bolzano. The inhabitants of German language and ethnicity constitute the 69.5% of the total. Together with them there are Italian -language minorities (about 26%) and Ladin language, a novel idiom widespread only in this area (about 4%). The German population is majority in 102 municipalities in the province of Bolzano out of 116. What does this situation come from?
South Tyrol until the First World War
Being on the border between Italian language territories and German -speaking territories, South Tyrol has always been inhabited by a mixed populationalbeit with different proportions depending on the periods. In the 19th century theEmpire of Austria I promoted a Germanization policy, which increased the German -speaking population. In 1910 90% of the inhabitants declared themselves Germanophone.
South Tyrol, therefore, did not fall among the Austrian territories claimed by Italy after the unity, the “irreverent lands”, which mainly included the regions inhabited by Italian majorities: Trentino, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia. However, in nationalist movements it was believed that the border between Italy and the Empire of Austria should be brought to Passo del Brennerothus annexing South Tyrol. In 1915 the Italian government signed the London pact With the countries of the triple Intesa, to establish the compensation that were responsible for participating in the First World War, establishing that South Tyrol would also be annexed. The claim was due to imperialist reasonsbut it was justified with the principle of the “natural frontier”: the Italian government claimed that the physical conformation of Italy included “naturally” also South Tyrol, up to the mountain known as Glockenkarkopf (which at the beginning of the 1900s began to be called Summit of Italy), and that the control of the territory was necessary for the country’s military defense.
Since South Tyrol is Italian: the peace agreements of 1919
At the end of the world war, the Kingdom of Italy encountered some difficulties in obtaining respect for the London pact on the eastern border, but South Tyrol was transferred without difficulty. The President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, did not oppose, who supported the principle of self -determination of peoples and contrasted the Italian claims on the eastern border. The frontier between Italy and Austria was brought to Brenner and since then South Tyrol has always been part of Italywith the exception of a short period during the Second World War.
Fascism and the Second World War
The fascist regime submitted the population of South Tyrol toforced Italianization. The toponyms were changed, schools and German -speaking newspapers were gradually suppressed, citizens were given the opportunity to Italianize their surname. The population that declared itself ItalianFona exceeded 30% of the total.
When Italy attached to Nazi Germany, who supported the principle of bringing all the Germans to a single state, the belonging of South Tyrol to Italy became a problem. However Hitler, despite the bad moods of the Nazi party, agreed to leave the territory to Italy in exchange for the recognition of the annexation of Austria. In 1939 fascism, in agreement with the Nazi regime, imposed on German citizens of South Tyrol of Choose between two options: move to Germany or accept Italianization. The outbreak of the war prevented from completing the operation. In 1943, when the Italian Social RepublicNazi Germany had no scruples to annex South Tyrol, but at the end of the war the territory returned to Italy again.
The De Gasperi-Gruer agreements and the second post-war period
After the Second World War, Austria re -teenaged independence. In 1946 the Chancellor Karl Gruber and the president of the Italian Council Alcide De Gasperi They signed an agreement, on the basis of which Austria accepted the belonging of South Tyrol to Italy, but assumed a sort of role of “protector” of the German population who resided there. The Italian government undertook to restore German schools, to introduce bilingual toponyms (or even trilinguals in the Ladin majority areas), also drawing up administrative documents in German, to allow the return of those who in 1939 had opted to move to Nazi Germany. The protection of linguistic minorities was also recognized by the Constitution of the Republic.
The application of the De Gasperi-Gruber agreements was not free from problems and in the 50s and 60s a terrorist movement who asked for the annexation of South Tyrol to Austria, but over the years the situation has stabilized and the tensions have been reduced. Today South Tyrol is considered a model for the integration of linguistic minorities.
