South Tyrol

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Template:Infobox ProvinceIT South Tyrol (Italian: Alto Adige, also Sudtirolo; Ladin: Alter Ades, also Sudtirol; German: Südtirol; Official in Italian: Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano; Official in Ladin: Provinzia Autonòma de Balsan; Official in German: Autonome Provinz Bozen) is an autonomous province of Italy. It is one of the subdivisions of the region of Trentino-South Tyrol. Together with the Austrian province of Tyrol it is represented by the Euroregion Tirol-Südtirol/Alto Adige-Trentino. South Tyrol's extensive autonomy makes it de facto comparable to an autonomous region of Italy. The province itself is divided into 116 municipalities called communes[1]. The capital of the province is Bolzano. It has an area of 7 400 km², and a total population of 476,023 (2004). South Tyrol is known for its mountains, which compose a portion of the Italian Alps and the main Alps chain located in Europe.

Historically the region is known in Italian as Tirolo Meridionale. The term Haute Adige was coined by the invading french troops under Napoleon, while fighting the local patriot Andreas Hofer, in order to erase any reference to the Austrian Tyrol region. The province was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of World War I, when this German-speaking region was annexed by Italy, along with the Italian-speaking province ofTrento to the south.

The red eagle in Tyrol's coat of arms is derived from the red Brandenburg eagle at the time when Louis V, Duke of Bavaria and Margarete Maultasch governed Brandenburg as well.

History

Main article: History of South Tyrol

From the 6th to the 9th century, the region was settled by the Bavarii together with the Langobards and the romanised natives. As part of the Frankish empire and later the Holy Roman Empire the region had a strategic importance as a bridgehead to Italy as southern part of the duchy of Bavaria. Large parts of the province were donated to the Bishops of Trento and Brixen. After their caretakers, the earls of Tyrol (See Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol) had gathered the province under their command, the region together with the valleys to the north was known as Tyrol. In 1342, the earldom went over to the Bavarian dukes again when Emperor Louis IV voided the first marriage of Countess Margarete Maultasch. But already in 1363 the Wittelsbach released the country for Habsburg. They ruled the region almost continuously until 1918.

World War I

Detailed map of South Tyrol

From 1882, Italy was part of the Triple Alliance (German: Dreibund), a defensive pact signed with Germany and Austria-Hungary. When Austria-Hungary, in 1914, declared war against Serbia, thus starting World War I, Italy remained neutral, according to the defensive nature of the pact. Austria-Hungary, fearing Italian intervention in the war against it, offered some territorial compensations in exchange for Italian neutrality for the whole war. On the other side, the Triple Entente signed with Italy the London Pact, which promised territorial gains at Austria-Hungary's expense, including all the territory of the Italian region (south of the Alpine water divide, regardless of the ethnic composition.

The frontline followed mostly the Austrian-Italian border, which ran right through the highest mountains of the Alps. The ensuing front became known as the "War in ice and snow", as troops occupied the highest mountains and glaciers all year long. Twelve metres (40 feet) of snow were a usual occurrence during the winter of 1915–1916 and tens of thousands of soldiers disappeared in avalanches. The remains of these soldiers are still being uncovered today. The Italian Alpinis, as well as their Austrian counterparts (Kaiserjäger, Standschützen and Landesschützen) occupied every hill and mountain top and began to carve whole cities out of the rocks and even drilled tunnels and living quarters deep into the ice of glaciers like the Marmolada. Guns were dragged by hundreds of troops on Mountains up to 3 890 m (12,760 feet) high. Streets, cable cars, mountain railways and walkways through the steepest of walls were built.

But whoever had occupied the higher ground first was almost impossible to dislodge, so both sides turned to drilling tunnels under mountain peaks, filling them up with explosives and then detonating the whole mountain to pieces, including its defenders: Col di Lana, Monte Pasubio, Lagazuoi, etc. Climbing and skiing became essential skills for the troops of both sides and soon Ski Battalions and Special Climbing units were formed.

In 1918, after the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, Italian troops ended the war with Austria-Hungary by penetrating deep into the Austrian territory and the Tyrol (including Innsbruck). With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the Italian-speaking province of Trentino was attached to Italy. According to the London Treaty, Italy also annexed the Southern part of the province of Tyrol, which was inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans and Ladins and a small Italian minority. These territorial arrangements were confirmed by the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919).

Fascist rule and World War II

Map of the Tyrol detailing the division between north and east (Austria) and south (Italy)

After the rise of Fascism, starting from 1926 a policy of Italianisation was implemented. All the toponymes, even the minor ones, were given in the Italian version. Even many family names were translated. The process intensified in the 1930s, when the government of Benito Mussolini encouraged thousands of ethnic Italians to relocate to the region. The proportion of the Italian-speaking population thus grew significantly from 3% before World War I (census of 1910) to over 34% in 1961[citation needed]. Adolf Hitler never claimed back the German-speaking South Tyrol for his Third Reich, because Benito Mussolini was too important an ally. In 1939, both dictators agreed to give the German-speaking population a choice: they could emigrate to Germany (or its new territories, annexed Austria) or stay in Italy and accept their complete Italianisation. It was a difficult choice for the people of South Tyrol: between their language or the landscape where their ancestors had lived for far longer than thousand years. Both solutions meant the breakdown of their culture. As a consequence, South Tyrolean society was deeply riven. Those who wanted to stay (Dableiber), were condemned as traitors, those who left (Optanten) were defamed as Nazis. Because of the outbreak of World War II, this agreement between Mussolini and Hitler was never fully accomplished.

In 1943, Mussolini was deposed and Italy surrendered to the Allies, who had invaded southern Italy via Sicily. German troops promptly invaded northern Italy and South Tyrol became part of the Operation Zone of the Alpine Foothills, annexed to the Greater Germany. Many German-speaking South Tyroleans, after years of linguistic oppression and discrimination by Fascist Italy, wanted revenge upon ethnic Italians living in the area (particularly in the larger cities) but were mostly prevented from doing so by the occupying (northern) German Nazis, who still considered Mussolini head of the Italian Social Republic and wanted to preserve good relations with the Italian Fascists still supporting Mussolini and his combat against the Allies.

The region largely escaped fighting during the war, and its mountainous remoteness proved useful to the Nazis as a refuge for items looted from across Europe. When the 88th Infantry Division occupied South Tyrol from May 2 to May 8, 1945, and after the total unconditional surrender of Germany (May 9, 1945), it found vast amounts of precious items and looted treasures of art. Among the items reportedly found were railway wagons filled with gold bars, hundreds of thousands of metres of silk, the Italian crown jewels, King Victor Emmanuel's personal collection of rare coins, and scores of works of art looted from art galleries such as the Uffizi in Florence. It was feared that the Germans might use the region as a last-ditch stronghold to fight to the bitter end and from there direct Werwolf activities in Allied-controlled territories, but this possibility was rendered moot by the suicide of Hitler, the disintegration and chaos of the Nazi apparatus and the rapid Nazi German surrender thereafter. (The Times, London, 25 May 1945)

In 1945 the South Tyrolean People's Party (Südtiroler Volkspartei) was founded, above all by Dableiber – people who had chosen to stay in Italy after the agreement between Hitler and Mussolini. A party founded by the Optanten would not have been acceptable for the occupying Americans, owing to the Optants' apparently close relationship to the Nazis and their ideology. The support of the Dableiber also proved useful as a means of deflecting renewed future Austrian claims for the return of South Tyrol into the Austrian state.

After World War II

With the Treaty of Gruber-De Gasperi (1946) the German-speaking people were granted special rights. But the statutory order was implemented by De Gasperi for the whole region (South Tyrol and Trentino), where Italians were in the majority, making real self-government for the German-speaking South Tyroleans impossible. Even the implementation of this "First statutory order" was delayed repeatedly, while more and more Italians were encouraged to relocate to South Tyrol, with the aim of creating an Italian majority.

As a consequence of delaying implementation of the statutory order, the late 1950s and especially 1960s saw the rise of an anti-Italian insurgency in South Tyrol. At the beginning the insurgents' strategy was targeted only against structures.

The 1960s brought some progress towards the establishment of self-government for the South Tyroleans. In consequence, only the most fanatical of the insurgents wanted to continue their fight for an Austrian South Tyrol by violent means. Insurgents carried out 361 attacks with explosives, guns and landmines between 1956 and 1988. Acts were mainly against structures; however, there were 21 deaths as a result of the attacks, four of which were insurgents, slain by their own explosive devices. The wounded amounted to 57.

Eventually, the pressure of insurgency caused the Italian central government to consider a "Second statutory order", primarily for South Tyrol.

Today

File:Südtirol Banner.PNG
Banner of South Tyrol, emblazoned with the name of the province in all three official languages

Today, South Tyrol enjoys a high degree of autonomy, and relations with North and East Tyrol — the two portions of the old state retained by Austria — are lively, especially since Austria's 1995 entry into the European Union, which led to a common currency and a de facto disappearance of the borders. Today, the whole historic region Tyrol, consisting of the Austrian state Tyrol (North and East Tyrol), South Tyrol and the Trentino forms a Euroregion, a region of intensified cross-border cooperation within the EU, called "Tirol-Südtirol-Trentino" which, albeit having only limited competences, led to a joint Tyrolian parliament . The South Tyrolean People's Party, or Südtiroler Volkspartei, has been consistently in power in South Tyrol since its founding in 1945.

However, South Tyrolean society is still to some extent segmented across ethnic lines: each resident must declare his or her language group at the census (choosing amongst Italian, German or Ladin). According to the 2001 census more than two-thirds of the population is German-speaking (69%); the second most used language is Italian (26,5%), followed by Ladin (4%). Places today have two (Italian and German) or even three (with Ladin) names on the road signs. German is the majority language of 103 of 116 municipalities, with the remaining 13 divided between Ladin (8) and Italian (5). However, the two largest cities, Bolzano and Merano, both now have sizeable Italian-speaking populations (73% and 48% respectively).

Public jobs are assigned by ethnic quotas, and require proficiency in both German and Italian, with the effect of protecting the local labour market from immigration. Notwithstanding this imperfect cohabitation, since the 1980s there has been an increased call, especially amongst the youth, for superseding ethnic divisions. One famous advocate of this novel movement was Alexander Langer (1946–1995), MEP for the Greens group.

Independence controversy

In May 2006, former Italian president Francesco Cossiga, and former senator for life in the Italian Senate, brought in a bill that would allow the region to hold a referendum, where voters could decide whether to stay with Italy, return to Austria, or become fully independent [2]. The proposed bill was immediately rejected in the Italian parliament, and also the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) rejected the proposal, saying this would just create ethnic tensions again. An unofficial opinion poll, done in September 2006, showed that only 54% of the German-speaking population prefers a reunification with Austria.[citation needed]

However Austria does see itself somewhat of a "protector" for the German-speaking population of this region. For example, German-speaking South Tyroleans were freely allowed access to Austrian universities and are handled as if possessing Austrian citizenship. Some young German South Tyroleans as a result choose to study in Innsbruck or Vienna.

Most German-speaking South Tyroleans see themselves neither as purely Austrian, German or Italian, but as South Tyroleans who happen to speak the German language as Italian citizens, similar to the identities in multi-lingual neighbouring Switzerland. There, German-speaking Swiss are not referred to as "Germans", or French-speaking Swiss as "French" either. If the idea of full autonomy or even independence does result in a free state (Freistaat) one day remains open. The question of the identity of the inhabitants of South Tyrol remains the focus of debate and controversy [3].

Government

During the closing months of World War II, South Tyrol was involved in negotiations with the Austrian provisional government to come up with a plan to hand the land back over to Austria. However, the Allied Powers did not allow this plan to continue in a decision made in the fall of 1945. While a referendum and protests were held inside South Tyrol and in Austria to support the merger with Austria, the plan was finally defeated the following year. This opened the door for the Italian and Austrian governments to allow autonomy for the province. Owing to the Paris Agreement between Italy and Austria, South Tyrol was promised legislative and executive power by the Italian government. The details of these powers were laid out in the Autonomous Statute, an agreement that was passed by the Italian Constituent Assembly on 31 January 1948.

The eight districts of South Tyrol.

The province is divided into eight districts (Italian: comprensorio, German: Bezirksgemeinschaft), with one of them being the capital city of Bolzano. The other seven districts encompass a portion of the various communes and the people who are located in those communes. Each district is headed by a president and two bodies called the district committee and the district council. The districts are responsible for intercommunal disputes, roads, schools and social services such as retirement homes. [4] The districts are:

  1. Bozen
  2. Burggrafenamt
  3. Eisacktal
  4. Pustertal
  5. Salten-Schlern
  6. Überetsch-Unterland
  7. Vinschgau
  8. Wipptal

Economy

Out of the 481,000 residents of the province, 219,000 of them are employed (1999). Most of these employees are working in the fields of agriculture, handicrafts, industry, commerce, tourism, self-employed professionals and the service industry. The unemployment level in 2005 was roughly 1,8%, which is lower than the national Italian average of 8.6%, or the Austrian average of 6%. The handicraft industry is dominated by cabinet making, construction, painting, plumbing, meat preparation, and baking. South Tyrol also acts as a bridge between the northern European and Italian markets, and hotel stays in the province count for 8 percent of the money Italy earns from hotels and other lodging. [5]

Geography

South Tyrol is located at the northernmost point in Italy. The province is bordered by Austria to the east and north and by Switzerland to the west. Italian provinces that border South Tyrol are Belluno to the southeast, Trentino to the south and Sondrio to the southwest. The landscape itself is mostly cultivated with different types of shrubs and forests. [6] [7]

Mountains

Sciliar mountain

Mountains dot many parts of the of South Tyrol landscape. Many of these mountains belong to the Alps, which extend through many Central European nations. In this mountain chain, there is a smaller group called the Ortler Alps. In this group, which is considered the centre of the Italian Alps, there is a mountain called the Ortler, which rises 3 905 m above sea level, and is the highest peak in the Ortler Alps. Another group of mountains located in South Tyrol are the Dolomites. The Dolomites are a section of the main alpine chain, of which equal parts are located in the South Tyrol and in neighbouring Italian provinces. The mountain Sciliar (2 563 m) is part of the Dolomite chain. Other mountains located in South Tyrol are:

Notable natives

Walther von der Vogelweide, possibly a native of South Tyrol

Artists:

Inventors and scientists:

Political activists:

Religious leaders:

Sports people:

Other:

References

  1. ^ Italian institute of statistics Istat
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ South Tyrol Municipal and District Government
  5. ^ Euro Info Center - South Tyrol (1999)
  6. ^ Landscapes of South Tyrol
  7. ^ [3]

See also

External links

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