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Italianization of South Tyrol

In 1919, at the time of its annexation, the middle part of the County of Tyrol, which is today called South Tyrol, was inhabited by almost 90% German speakers. Under the 1939 South Tyrol Option Agreement, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini determined the status of ethnic Germans and Ladins living in the region. They could emigrate to Germany, or stay in Italy and accept their complete Italianization. As a consequence of this, the society of South Tyrol was deeply riven. Those who wanted to stay, the so-called Dableiber, were condemned as traitors while those who left were defamed as Nazis. Because of the outbreak of World War II, this agreement was never fully implemented. Illegal Katakombenschulen were set up to teach children the German language.

Italianization programme
Fascist period (1922–1945) , North Tyrol, commemorating the separation of South Tyrol, set up in 1923 in response to the prohibition of the original southern Tyrolean place names. In 1923, three years after South Tyrol had been formally annexed, Italian place names, almost entirely based on the , were made official by means of a decree. The basis for these actions was a manifesto published by Ettore Tolomei on 15 July 1923, called the ('Measures for the Alto Adige'), becoming the blueprint for the Italianization campaign. Its 32 measures were: • Association of Alto Adige and Trentino in a single province with the capital city of Trento • Appointment of Italian municipal secretaries • Revision of the citizenship options and closure of the Brenner border for all persons to whom the Italian citizenship was not granted • Entry and residence difficulties for Germans and Austrians • Prevention of German immigration • Revision of the census of 1921 • Introduction of Italian as the official language • Dismissal of German officials or transfer to the old provinces (i.e., pre-war Italian provinces) • Dissolution of the "" ('German Association') • Dissolution of Alpine associations not under command of the Italian Alpine Club, transfer of all Alpine refuges to the Italian Alpine Club • Prohibition of the name "" and "" • Closure of the newspaper published in Bozen (Bolzano) • Italianization of German local names • Italianization of public inscriptions • Italianization of road and path names • Italianization of the German surname • Removal of the Walther von der Vogelweide monument from the Walther Square in Bozen (Bolzano) • Increase in Carabinieri troops in the province, with the exclusion of Germans • Preferential treatment for land acquisition and immigration for Italians • Non-interference by foreign powers in South Tyrolean affairs • Elimination of German banks, establishment of an Italian mortgage bank • Establishment of border customs offices in Sterzing (Vipiteno) and Toblach (Dobbiaco) • Generous support for the Italian language and culture • Establishment of Italian nursery and primary schools • Establishment of Italian secondary schools • Strict control of foreign university diplomas • Expansion of the "" ('Institute for the History of Alto Adige') • Realignment of the territory of the Diocese of Brixen and strict control of clergy activity • Using only Italian in trials and court • State control of the Chamber of Commerce and the agricultural authorities () • Extensive programs for new rail junctions to facilitate the Italianization of Alto Adige (rail projects Milan-Mals, Veltlin-Brenner, Agordo-Brixen) • Increase military garrisons in Alto Adige In October 1923, the "use of the Italian language became mandatory on all levels of federal, provincial and local government". The German-language press, which was still published, was harassed by the authorities and subjected to censorship prior to publication. The programme of Italianization was particularly forcefully applied in schools, aiming at the destruction of the German school system. In religious affairs, a royal decree of November 1923 required religious instruction in Italian for all Italianized schools. The German-speaking population reacted by the establishment of ('catacomb schools'), clandestine home schools outside the Italianized standard educational system. The newly composed quickly became one of South Tyrol's unofficial hymns by celebrating an unbroken attachment of the South Tyroleans to their homeland. In the 21st century, just over 100 years after the Italian annexation of the region, 64% of the population of South Tyrol speak German as their first and everyday language. Post-war period . The poster is located on the Austrian side of the Brennerpass border, not in South Tyrol. After the end of the Second World War, reform processes tolerated the dual use of names on street signs, while the Italian names remain as the official ones, based on the 1940 law. In the 1990s, a commission consisting of the Professors Josef Breu (Vienna, representing Austria in the Toponymy commission of the UN), Peter Glatthard (Berne) and Carlo Alberto Mastrelli (Florence, current "Archivio per l'Alto Adige") failed as Mastrelli insisted on the fascist decrees, while Breu and Glatthard promoted the UN guidelines. == See also ==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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