German-Italian relations

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German-Italian relations
Location of Germany and Italy
GermanyGermany ItalyItaly
Germany Italy

Germany and Italy are members of NATO , the Group of Seven , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development , the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe , the European Union , the Schengen Area and the Eurozone .

Italy has an embassy in Berlin and consulates general in the following cities: Frankfurt am Main , Hamburg , Hanover , Cologne , Munich , Nuremberg (consular office), Saarbrücken (consular office) and Stuttgart and consulates in Freiburg im Breisgau , Dortmund and Wolfsburg . Honorary consuls reside in Bremen , Dresden , Kiel and Leipzig . Germany has an embassy in Rome and a consulate general in Milan . Honorary consuls have their seat in Bari , Bologna , Bozen , Cagliari , Florence , Genoa , Messina , Naples , Palermo , Rimini and Venice .

The community of Italians in Germany consists of ethnically Italian migrants in Germany and their descendants and is one of the largest and oldest immigrant communities in Germany today.

With the concept of the Tuscany faction (for left-wing German politicians who prefer to vacation in Italy), the mass phenomenon of German tourism in Italy has found its way into political discourse.

history

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe with his Italian friends , drawing by Johann Friedrich Bury , at the end of the 1780s: Themotifs echoedin Goethe's travelogue Italienische Reise are among the well-known topoi of the “ longing for Italy ” of German educated citizens .
Italia and Germania , an allegorical painting by the painter Friedrich Overbeck from 1828, whichsymbolizesthe friendship between Italy and Germany in the style of Nazarene art .

57 BC . AD began Julius Caesar the Gallic Wars ; his successor, Emperor Augustus, and his successor extended the borders of the Roman Empire across the Rhine (see also Limes # 1st century , Germania superior ). The rise of the Franks began with the Great Migration .

Large parts of the later states Italy and Germany were part of the Frankish empire of Charlemagne in the 8th and 9th centuries AD . Even after the Franconian division of the empire (843), the connections did not break off: throughout the Middle Ages, large parts of northern Italy were part of the Holy Roman Empire (albeit partially only formally → Imperial Italy ), while between the papal states in central Italy and the Pope as its head On the one hand, and the Roman-German Emperor on the other, there were also particularly intensive - if rarely conflict-free - relationships. An example of this is the walk to Canossa (1077) of the Roman-German King Henry IV , who wanted to have his excommunication lifted by the Pope who was there (→ investiture dispute ). Southern Italy was not part of the Holy Roman Empire, but was ruled from 1194 to 1268 by the Staufers , who also provided the Holy Roman Emperors. Such was Palermo the capital and residence of the Emperor Frederick II. , Who had grown up in the south.

Starting in Italy in the late 14th century, the new mentality - Renaissance and humanism - spread across Europe and was also of great cultural and historical importance for the German-speaking area. With Charles V (1516–1556 'Carlos I of Spain') a Roman-German emperor tried again to become heavily involved politically or militarily in Italy. A famous consequence of this policy was the Sacco di Roma of 1527, when a rebellious army, including German soldiers, devastated and plundered the "Eternal City".

For the 17th and 18th centuries see History of Italy and History of Germany # Early Modern Times .

In 1792 the coalition wars began . In March 1796 Napoleon received the supreme command of the Italian Army from the Directory and began the Italian campaign . In the preliminary peace of Leoben (signed on April 18, 1797 and ratified on May 24) Austria had to a. renounce the Duchy of Milan and be ready to resolve the conflict with France that has been ongoing since 1792. The Campo Formio peace treaty was signed on October 17, 1797; therein Napoleon forced the end of the 7/8. The Republic of Venice , which existed in the 18th century, forced the end of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (which had existed since the 10th century) . Before that, Napoleon had forced the empire to renounce the imperial feudal rights in Italy. Although Europe was able to free itself from Napoleonic rule in 1814/1815, the Congress of Vienna did not lead to a German or Italian unification during these years, which should lead to astonishing parallels in the development of the two nations. One big difference, however, was that the Italian states were largely ruled by foreign powers, while the German states were mostly ruled by local rulers. Austria - empire since 1804 - ruled Veneto and the Italian-speaking areas of Lombardy.

From 1848

In 1848 there was the German March Revolution in the German states and the Italian March Revolution in Italian states , both of which failed. As a result, the unifying forces of the two nations could no longer be stopped: In 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was established , which in 1866 used the German war between Prussia and Austria on Prussia's side to gain Veneto and Friuli from Austria (after Lombardy in 1859/60 was won). For Prussia and its Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck, the victory against Austria was an important stage in the German Wars of Unification , as Austria could be ousted from German politics, with the North German state winning German dualism . Then, while the last German unification war against France 1870/71 to the proclamation of the German Empire led the Italians took advantage of the situation or the war-related withdrawal of French peacekeepers to the Papal States to annex and Rome to the Italian capital to explain, making the last Italian "Core" had been included in the new nation state.

However, Italian irredentism remained virulent. This ideology, which called for the unification of all Italians in one state, was directed, along with other states, primarily against Austria, which still ruled over Trentino and Istria . Thus the Triple Alliance between the German Reich, Austria-Hungary and Italy had little real political impact: When the First World War broke out, Italy initially remained neutral and then entered the war in 1915 on the side of the opponents of Germany and Austria, as it was its irredentist Believed to be able to pursue interests better in this way (see London Treaty (1915) ).

1918 to 1945

In the Treaty of St. Germain in 1919, the Kingdom of Italy was granted the previously Austrian areas of Trentino , South Tyrol , the Canal Valley , the entire former Austrian coastal region and part of Carniola , the city of Zara and some northern Dalmatian islands . Italy got less than it had expected (the Entente and Italy had negotiated territorial gains in 1915 as a “reward” for a change of front in World War I and then signed the London Treaty (1915) ). After all, with South Tyrol, a traditionally German-speaking territory now also belonged to the Italian state. In October 1922, the fascists, led by Benito Mussolini , used the troubled political situation after the First World War to march on Rome and then to establish a dictatorship. As a result, along with other groups of victims, the German-speaking South Tyroleans suffered massively from the fascist Italianization policy (see History of South Tyrol ). While Italy supported maintaining the status quo in foreign policy in the early days of Mussolini's rule (for example in the “ Stresa Front ” agreement with Great Britain and France), it later moved closer to Germany (among other things to promote increasingly imperialist policies) where in January 1933 a Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler took power. This National Socialist state took fascist Italy as its model in some areas and generally felt ideologically close to Mussolini's Italy.

The German imperial war flag and the Italian flag on an embassy building in Rome , June 1943

Important areas of German-Italian relations were in the following years the joint intervention in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the Mussolini finally accepted annexation of Austria to Germany remained in 1938 (South Tyrol in Italy; the German-speaking South Tyrol was after the Hitler-Mussolini Agreement only to choose between resettlement in the German Reich or giving up their culture and mother tongue) as well as the alliance treaty dated May 22, 1939, called the Steel Pact . In June 1940 Mussolini entered World War II (without consulting Hitler) . Mussolini also set his own accents, which often became a strategic problem for Germany and the Wehrmacht (e.g. the completely failed attack by Italy on Greece in 1940, which could only be won through the intervention of German troops in 1941). When Italy, after devastating defeats and the Allied landing in Sicily, signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943 and intervened in the war on the Allied side, the Germans occupied northern Italy as far as Rome ( fall axis ) and installed an " Italian Social Republic " under Mussolini's leadership. During the conquest of Italy by the Allies (1943–1945) Italy was then a direct frontline area and suffered heavily from the effects of the war (→  German war crimes in Italy ).

Italian guest workers in Walsum, 1962

Since 1945

After the two world wars, Italy under Alcide De Gasperi and Germany (1949 to 1963 under Konrad Adenauer ) were among the founding fathers of a united Europe (1951/52: European Coal and Steel Community ), which should also serve the reconciliation of the two peoples. Although both countries experienced an economic miracle in the post-war period , the south of Italy in particular remained underdeveloped; after a recruitment agreement (1955), many Italians tried their luck in West Germany . For the German-speaking South Tyroleans, the 2nd Statute of Autonomy from 1972 onwards created a viable solution through extensive autonomy for South Tyrol within Italy. Today South Tyrol sees itself as a bridge between the German and Italian-speaking regions. During the Cold War , Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany were allies within NATO .

Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Italian Prime Minister Antonio Segni in August 1959
Angela Merkel and Silvio Berlusconi

The relationship between Germany and Italy today is characterized by friendship and European partnership. During the euro crisis from 2009/10, which also hit Italy heavily, there were tensions in the bilateral relationship. At a press conference in 2011, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy only responded with a meaningful smile when asked whether they still trusted the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi . Berlusconi resigned in November 2011 - apparently also under pressure from other EU countries.

The Monti cabinet ruled Italy from November 16, 2011 to April 28, 2013. All ministers were independent. After early elections (February 24/25, 2013) , Enrico Letta and his cabinet took over government on April 28, 2013 . Letta resigned in February 2014 and handed over his office to his party challenger Matteo Renzi (→ Renzi cabinet ).

The German-Italian relationship has also been clouded by the euro crisis since 2012. After, for example, Angela Merkel called on Italy and France for (more) reforms in December 2014 (background: the net new debt of both countries and governments is still above the limit of 3 percent of GDP set in the EU Stability Pact ), Various Italian (and French) politicians forbade criticism or advice.

A FAZ business correspondent who has been reporting from Rome since 1992 wrote in 2015:

“In the barrage of the Italian media, the Germans are portrayed as power-hungry and as obsessed with an austerity that makes Italy poor. No wonder that 54 percent of Italians recently called Germany the greatest enemy in a survey. [...] no interest whatsoever in the worries of German savers, economic data is deliberately ignored. What has long been forgotten is what was promised to the Germans so that Italy would be accepted into the monetary union. Italy is pleased to see the ECB's new glut of money as a triumph over Germany - and demands even more. There is no understanding of the German frustration that the euro mark has now finally been exchanged for the euro lira. In Germany, for example, the belief in contracts in the cynical pragmatics of Italian daily politics is shattered. "

And in April 2020 the "Spiegel" drew Germany's fatal caricature of Italy.

Germany's reputation in Italy declined significantly with the COVID-19 pandemic , and accusations of a lack of European solidarity were loud. In early May 2020 , Die Zeit wrote :

“If then […] an export ban for medical aids to Italy is imposed from Germany, although the death rate has already skyrocketed, or there is a dispute for weeks about whether or not the rich north of Europe has to help the poorer south financially with the reconstruction not, then not much remains of the idea of ​​European values ​​and European solidarity. According to surveys, Italians currently see China as their greatest friend and Germany as their greatest enemy. We will have a lot to do with repairing this serious damage. Reconstruction must also be cultural and political, not just economic. "

education and Science

In the city of Genoa there is the German School Genoa , which was founded in 1869. The Deutsche Akademie Rome Villa Massimo in Rome is a cultural institution of the Federal Republic of Germany . The German-Italian University Center is located in Trieste . It was founded in 2000 and awards the Ladislao Mittner Prize to Italian scientists with a doctorate and the Clemens Brentano Prize to German Italy researchers. Together with the then Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini ( Berlusconi IV cabinet ), Frank-Walter Steinmeier ( Merkel I cabinet ) established the German-Italian Commission of Historians . Over a period of three years, the ten members researched the German-Italian war past, the experiences of Italian citizens with the German occupation forces and the Italian military internees, and the perspective of German soldiers. There is also a foundation for research into Italian-German relations, the Istituto storico italo-Germanico . The research institute Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici , which was founded on the initiative of Giovanni Gentile in 1932, is dedicated to the cultural and scientific exchange between the two countries .

See also

Web links

Commons : German-Italian Relations  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Representations of Italy (in Germany) . Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  2. ^ German representations (in Italy) . Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  3. ↑ Will the EU overthrow Berlusconi? Telepolis. Retrieved December 10, 2011
  4. ↑ FAZ.net December 8, 2014: Irritations in France and Italy after Merkel's call for reform ( memento from January 24, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
  5. ↑ FAZ.net January 23, 2015: Italy, cynical (comment by Tobias Piller)
  6. ↑ Thomas Fricke : The real Euro-Drama lies in the mistaken German cliché of the splendid Italian Der Spiegel , April 24, 2020
  7. ↑ Sigmar Gabriel: Corona consequences: More than an epidemic. In: zwir.de. May 4, 2020, accessed May 5, 2020 .