Biel - Bienne, CH, Wednesday, 08 November 2006
South Tyrolean Parliament rejects abolition of fascist place names
by Peter Josika
A parliamentary motion by the Union for South Tyrol (Union für Südtirol-UFS) to abolish certain Italian place names in South Tyrol has been rejected by the provincial parliament (Landtag) on Tuesday (7th November).
The motion, introduced by the leader of the UFS, Ms Eva Klotz, was to abolish all topographic terms in South Tyrol introduced by two Royal decrees during fascist rule in the 1920s and 1940s.
The proposal contained a list of communities, valleys, mountains, rivers and lakes with Italian place-names that were already in use before the province was incorporated into Italy in 1919. For all other topographic points only the original German and Ladin terms were to remain valid. Bilingual signage, currently compulsory across the province, would have been limited to municipalities and communities with more than 20% Italian speakers.
In a speech Eva Klotz defended her proposal as a fair solution. "This is more than what we should have from the point of view of historical justice", Ms Klotz said. She also rejected criticism that bilingualism in South Tyrol, as outlined in the Italian constitution and the Paris treaty between Austria and Italy, automatically demands for bilingual place names. "Place names cannot be translated and have nothing to do with bilingualism", she concluded.
Alessandro Urzi of Aleanza Nazionale (AN) called the proposal an attempt to cleanse South Tyrol of its Italian heritage. "They are looking for a final solution for the Italians in South Tyrol again!" Urzi said. Alberto Pascquali of Forza Italia (FI) rejected the proposal as well, although he added that Eva Klotz may be right from a historical point of view. Various members of the other two German Parties represented in Parliament, including the ruling South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), as well as representatives of the Greens and the Italian Centre-Left, agreed that changes to the "topography question" were necessary; however, they rejected the UFS proposal as "too radical". The motion was eventually rejected with the votes of the Italian Parties and the SVP. Two members of the SVP, including Ms Veronika Stirner, who supported the proposal in a subcommittee, abstained.
Most Italian place names in South Tyrol were invented by the Italian nationalist Ettore Tolomei before World War I, when South Tyrol was part of Austria. Tolomei was a regular visitor to the region and published various articles and books in which he promoted his dream of a Greater Italy incorporating almost the entire Alps and Adriatic Sea, including German and Ladin-speaking South Tyrol.
Until the beginning of WW I his ideas were rejected as extremist by most political groups in Italy. However, after Italy remained neutral during the early stage of World War I, both the Entente and Central Powers started to vie for Italy's war entry on their side. While Austria proposed to surrender the Italian speaking Trentino region to Italy, Britain and France went a step further promising Italy the entire South Tyrol as well as various Slovene and Croatian speaking areas along the Adriatic. Italy eventually chose to join the Entente, winning the War and gaining South Tyrol.
With the fascist take over in 1924, the traditional German and Ladin place names were progressively abolished and replaced by Italian translations, mostly based on Tolomei's proposals. Mussolini invested millions into large new industry plants in South Tyrol settling thousands of mostly southern Italians in the main population centers of South Tyrol- Bozen/Bolzano and Meran/Merano to Italianize the province.
During WW II Hitler and Mussolini signed an agreement to transfer the entire native South Tyrolean population into occupied Eastern Europe. However, Italian and German authorities did not have enough time and resources to execute the plan before the end of the War.
Since 1972 South Tyrol has been an autonomous province with extensive self rule and is often considered exemplary for its trilingualism and minority protection standards. (Eurolang 2006)