{"id":109677,"date":"2021-06-21T10:04:26","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T10:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/sud-tirolo-storia-di-una-piccola-patria-eternamente-invitta\/"},"modified":"2021-10-12T16:15:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T16:15:01","slug":"south-tyrol-the-story-of-a-small-country-eternally-unconquered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/south-tyrol-the-story-of-a-small-country-eternally-unconquered\/","title":{"rendered":"South Tyrol, the story of a small country eternally unconquered"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Tyrol, the story of a small country eternally unconquered<\/h1>\n

A journey through the Autonomous Province of Bolzano on the sixteenth anniversary of the “Notte dei Fuochi” (Night of Fires), on the edge of the always hostile coexistence between the German and Italian ethnic groups<\/em><\/h3>\n

A steep wall of gray rock interrupts the green of the steep woods that surround it and cover the rest of the Burgstall-Eck peak. From this mountain, at an elevation of about 1,000 meters, you can look down into the Etschtal valley. Below, the river cuts through the valley and flows south through vineyards, apple plantations, and villages with churches and houses with pointed roofs in the Habsburg style. Finally, it joins the horizon in Bolzano, among the square pale stone buildings built during the fascist period.
\nThe mountain marks a border, although not a political one. On the opposite side begin the Trentino valleys that mark the end of the Germanic linguistic and cultural space. Where Trentino begins, South Tyrol ends and Italy begins, say many inhabitants of the Adige Valley, who almost all consider themselves South Tyroleans of German culture and language and not Italians. Even though they are Italian by passport.<\/p>\n

\"La
The Etschtal or Adige Valley observed from the 1,000 meters of altitude of Burgstall-Eck, the ethnic and linguistic watershed between the Germanic and Italian worlds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Five thousand activists of the Sch\u00fctzen, divided into 140 companies<\/h4>\n

On the rock face sits Hannes Unterkofler. The 37-year-old from Andrian, a village in the valley, works in Bolzano as a professional, but above all he is the local contact person of the Sch\u00fctzen, an organization spread throughout the German-speaking area and dedicated to the defense and preservation of its culture. In South Tyrol alone, it has 5,000 activists, divided into 140 companies.
\n“For us South Tyroleans it is easier to declare that we love our homeland (Heimatliebe) than the Germans in the Federal Republic<\/em>,” he explains, “during the Nazi period we had already been annexed by Italy and therefore we do not feel directly guilty for the Nazi crimes. Among us, the sense of guilt and rejection for our history that instead the West Germans (Wessis) have is much less felt. Moreover, the persecution we suffered during and after fascism is still present in the memories of our families. We still feel very much the importance of passing on what was left to us by our ancestors.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

\"Manifestazione
Patriotic demonstration of the Sch\u00fctzen in Siebeneich\/Settequerce, part of the South Tyrolean municipality of Terlan\/Terlan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Autonomous” Germanic stock infiltrated between Trentino and Austria<\/h4>\n

Historically, populations of German language and culture have lived scattered throughout Central and Eastern Europe, from Alsace to the Volga. Over the centuries, each of these Germanic strains has developed a strong territorial rooting, defined as Heimat, integrated in a generic sense of belonging to the wider German linguistic and ethno-cultural community, called Vaterland.
\nThe horrors of National Socialism wrought in the name of Germanicity have partly weakened identity in the Vaterland, much less in the Heimat. Especially in South Tyrol, whose history differs from that of the other Heimats mainly in relation to its relations with Italy. For centuries this region belonged to the Habsburg Empire.
\nWhen it was annexed to Italy at the end of the First World War, the population was predominantly German (89 percent) with Ladin (3.8 percent) and Italian (2.9 percent) minorities. The annexation marked the beginning of a policy of Italianization by the fascist regime, which prohibited the teaching of German (except in the catechism), German parties and newspapers and the use of the name “S\u00fcdtirol”. Italian was imposed as the only official language, toponymy and many surnames were Italianized. In Bolzano and Merano several monuments to German-speaking poets and writers were demolished in favor of the construction of new urban districts, destined to accommodate thousands of Italian immigrants.<\/p>\n