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Staging the Nation in Fascist Italy's “New Provinces”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2012

Roberta Pergher
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Extract

Read any textbook account of interwar Europe, and “indifference to nation” is not likely to figure as a heading. On the contrary, the talk will be of untrammeled nationalist rivalries leading the continent to ruin. In the territories of Eastern and South Eastern Europe that had once been part of the polyglot Habsburg and Ottoman empires, we will be reminded, nationalist hatred and border conflicts paved the way to World War I. And in the aftermath of that war, the regimes of Mussolini and Hitler took glorification of the national community to new heights, unleashing colonial and continental wars of conquest and annihilation. Small wonder that when many Europeans looked back from the rubble of 1945, what they saw was far too much commitment to nation, not too little. Indeed, the aspiration of many idealists in 1945 was precisely to supersede the nationalist rivalries and affiliations that they saw as so detrimental to peaceful coexistence and to create some kind of supranational European loyalty and structure instead.

Type
Sites of Indifference to Nationhood
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 43 , April 2012 , pp. 98 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 2012

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References

1 A classic study of the ways in which “ethnic” solidarities and differences within the Habsburg monarchy were historically conditioned rather than springing from the recollection of a communal past or some primordial attachment is Cohen, Gary B., The Politics of Ethnic Survival: Germans in Prague, 1861–1914 (Princeton, 1981)Google Scholar. For studies juxtaposing a small circle of nationalist “entrepreneurs” and a majority of people uninterested in declaring a national allegiance, see, among others: Zahra, Tara, Kidnapped Souls: The Nationalist Battle for Children in the Bohemian Lands (Ithaca, 2008)Google Scholar; Judson, Pieter, Guardians of the Nation: Activists on the Language Frontiers of Imperial Austria (Cambridge, 2006)Google Scholar; and King, Jeremy, Budweisers into Czechs and Germans: A Local History of Bohemian Politics, 1848–1948 (Princeton, 2002)Google Scholar.

2 I am here referring to a state and society that for a long time was not organized along nationalist principles. Although the monarchy ruled over different peoples using different languages, it was not “imperial” in the sense of differentiating between its peoples based on a racial hierarchy that afforded rights to some and not to others. For a criticism of the portrayal of the Habsburg monarchy as an empire, see Judson, Pieter, “L'Autriche-Hongrie était-elle un empire?” Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales 63, no. 3 (May/June 2008): 563–96Google Scholar. Yet when the monarchy required its citizens to declare their “language of daily use,” it opened the door to the possibility of a nationalist logic undergirding the monarchy's administration.

3 Zahra, Tara, “Imagined Noncommunities: National Indifference as a Category of Analysis,” Slavic Review 69, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 93–119CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 In this article, I will use the current English name for the area, namely South Tirol, except in direct quotations, where the rendition “South Tirol” would utterly misrepresent the Italian claims inherent in naming South Tirol “Alto Adige.” Alto Adige means “Upper Adige” and refers to the river Adige whose source is the Alpine watershed in South Tirol and which flows into the Adriatic Sea. For an explanation of the name South Tirol, in German “Südtirol,” and its historical emergence and significance, see Heiss, Hans, “‘Man pflegt Südtirol zu sagen und meint, damit wäre alles gesagt.’ (C. Gatterer) Beiträge zur einer Geschichte des Begriffes ‘Südtirol,’ Geschichte und Region/Storia e regione 9 (2000): 85–109Google Scholar. The entire issue of the journal Geschichte und Region is devoted to exploring the conceptual history of regional designations under the theme “Tirol—Trentino. Eine Begriffsgeschichte/Semantica di un concetto.” See also Heiss, , “Die Entstehung Südtirols,” in Das 20. Jahrhundert in Südtirol. Abschied vom Vaterland. Bd.1 1900–1919, ed. Solderer, Gottfried, 9–15 (Bozen, 1999)Google Scholar. The area is also often referred to as the province of Bolzano, after the provincial capital city that is called Bolzano in Italian and Bozen in German.

5 Fogu, Claudio, The Historic Imaginary: Politics of History in Fascist Italy (Buffalo, NY, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stone, Marla, The Patron State: Culture & Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, 1998)Google Scholar; Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta, Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy (Berkeley, 1997)Google Scholar; Berezin, Mabel, Making the Fascist Self: The Political Culture of Interwar Italy (Ithaca, 1997)Google Scholar; Gentile, Emilio, The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy (Cambridge, 1996)Google Scholar.

6 For an opposite stance, see Bosworth, R. J. B., Mussolini's Italy: Life under the Dictatorship 1915–1945 (New York, 2005)Google Scholar; and Corner, Paul, “Italian Fascism: Whatever Happened to Dictatorship?” The Journal of Modern History 74 (June 2002): 325–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a discussion of the concept of “consensus” in the historiography of Fascist Italy, see the forthcoming volume In the Society of Fascists: Acclamation, Acquiescence, and Agency, eds. Albanese, Giulia and Pergher, Roberta (New York, forthcoming 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 The scholarship on “identities” has long stressed that identities are fluid, compound, and in flux, and pointed to the projects aimed at making and remaking identities. The work on Italy has followed this pattern, showing the ways in which the state and other institutions have repeatedly sought to create a national identity, with Italians ever reluctant to take it on. See, among others: Graziano, Manlio, The Failure of Italian Nationhood. The Geopolitics of a Troubled Identity (New York, 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, which brings the analysis into the present; Ascoli, Albert and Henneberg, Krystyna Von, eds., Making and Remaking Italy: The Cultivation of National Identity around the Risorgimento (Oxford, 2001)Google Scholar; Allen, Beverly and Russo, Mary, eds., Revisioning Italy: National Identity and Global Culture (Minneapolis, 1997)Google Scholar; Forgacs, David and Lumley, Robert, eds., Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction (New York, 1996)Google Scholar; Soldani, Simonetta and Turi, Gabriele, eds., Fare gli italiani: scuola e cultura nell'Italia contemporanea (Bologna, 1993)Google Scholar.

8 For a literary rendition of this image, see Joseph Zoderer, Die Walsche (Munich, 1982) and Gatterer, Claus, Schöne Welt—Böse Leut. Kindheit in Südtirol (Vienna, 1969)Google Scholar.

9 See Meixner, Wolfgang, “Mythos Tirol. Zur Tiroler Ethnizitätsbildung und Heimatschutzbewegung im 19. Jahrhundert,” Geschichte und Region 1, no. 1 (1992): 88–105, at 88–89Google Scholar; Cole, Laurence, “Province and Patriotism. German National Identity in Tirol, 1850–1914,” Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften 5, no. 6 (1995): 61–83Google Scholar; Cole, , Für Gott, Kaiser, und Vaterland. Nationale Identität der deutschsprachigen Bevölkerung Tirols 1860–1914 (Frankfurt, 2000)Google Scholar; and Cole, , “Nationale Identität eines ‘auserwählten Volkes’: zur Bedeutung des Herz Jesu-Kultes unter der deutschsprachigen Bevölkerung Tirols 1859–96,” in Nation und Religion in der deutschen Geschichte, ed. Haupt, Heinz-Gerhard and Langewiesche, Dieter, 480–515 (Campus, 2001)Google Scholar.

10 On the German nationalist campaigns, see Zaffi, Davide, “Le associazione di difesa nazionale tedesche in Tirolo e nel Litorale,” in Regioni di Frontiera nell' Epoca dei Nazionalismi, Alsazia e Lorena/Trento e Trieste, 1870–1914, ed. Ara, Angelo and Kolb, Eberhard, Annali dell' Istituto storico italo-germanico 41, 157–95 (Bologna, 1995)Google Scholar. Zaffi also mentions the different German schooling associations, such as the locally oriented Comite zur Unterstützung der deutschen Schule in Welschtirol, the Deutsche Schulverein (DVS), and the Tiroler Volksbund (TVB), as well as the more widely active Allgemeine Deutsche Schulverein and the association Südmark. These different groupings had different, often competitive aspirations. For example, the DVS limited its efforts to the establishment of German schools for communities living on the Nonsberg, whereas the TVB wanted to “Re-Germanize” all of Tirol. Among the Italian associations were the Dante Alighieri and the Pro Patria. For an analysis of nationalist excursions, see Judson, Pieter, “Tourismus, Nationalisierung der Landschaft und lokales Identitätsmanagement um die Jahrhundertwende: Böhmen, die Steiermark, und Trentino/Südtirol,” in Regionale und nationale Identitäten. Wechselwirkungen und Spannungsfelder im Zeitalter moderner Staatlichkeit, ed. Haslinger, Peter, 113–28 (Würzburg, 2000)Google Scholar.

11 Publications providing a general overview of the history of South Tirol under Fascism are Steininger, Rolf, South Tyrol: A Minority Conflict of the Twentieth Century (New Brunswick, 2003)Google Scholar; Michele, Andrea Di, L'italianizzazione imperfetta. L'amministrazione pubblica dell'Alto Adige tra Italia liberale e fascismo (Alessandria, 2003)Google Scholar; Heiss, Hans and Meixner, Wolfgang, eds., Geschichte und Region/Storia e regione: Faschimus in der Provinz 8 (1999)Google Scholar; Freiberg, Walter and Fontana, Josef, Südtirol und der italienische Nationalismus (Innsbruck, 1989)Google Scholar; Steurer, Leopold, Südtirol zwischen Rom und Berlin, 1919–1939 (Vienna, 1980)Google Scholar; Toscano, Mario, Alto Adige, South Tyrol: Italy's Frontier with the German World (Baltimore, 1975)Google Scholar; Gruber, Alfons, Südtirol unter dem Faschismus (Bozen, 1974)Google Scholar; and Alcock, Antony Evelyn, The History of the South Tyrol Question (London, 1970)Google Scholar.

12 For a brief reflection on the use of the term “allogeno” in Fascism, see Collotti, Enzo, “Sul razzismo antislavo” in Nel nome della razza: Il razzismo nella storia d'Italia 1870–1945, ed. Bugio, Alberto, 33–61 (Bologna, 1999)Google Scholar.

13 For the Italo-German agreement of 1939, known as the Option, see Scroccaro, Mauro, Dall'aquila bicipite alla croce uncinata: l'Italia e le opzioni nelle nuove provincie Trentino, Sudtirolo, Val Canale, 1919–1939 (Trent, 2000)Google Scholar; Lill, Rudolf, Die Option der Südtiroler 1939: Beiträge eines Neustifter Symposions (Bozen, 1991)Google Scholar; Eisterer, Klaus and Steininger, Rolf, Die Option. Südtirol zwischen Faschismus und Nationalsozialismus (Innsbruck, 1989)Google Scholar; Option: Südtirol 1939–1945: Option, Umsiedlung, Widerstand (Bozen, 1989)Google Scholar; Rubatscher, Maria Veronika, Die Option 1939 in Südtirol: ein Zeugnis zur Geschichte (Calliano, 1986)Google Scholar. For a literary account, see Zoderer, Joseph, Wir gingen: Erzählung (Bozen: Ed. Raetia, 2004)Google Scholar.

14 About 250,000 German and Ladin speakers of the South Tirol and the German-speaking inhabitants of the so-called “linguistic islands” farther to the south and in the east were called to cast their decision in 1939. Close to 90 percent of the South Tirolean population opted to leave. If fully implemented, the Option would have completely altered South Tirol's social, linguistic, and cultural makeup. As a result of the outbreak of the war, only about 70,000 South Tiroleans, about a third of those who had opted for Germany, left, whereas the majority stayed in South Tirol. Many, though not all, of those who had left returned after the war.

15 The implementation of these measures was intimately connected with the establishment of a dictatorship in Italy. In fact, the policies pursued in South Tirol unfolded under the auspices of a regime that aspired to totalitarian control, and they resonated with the developments taking place across the national territory. Then again, the institution of a dictatorship affected South Tirol, as a recently annexed borderland perceived in need of transformation, in particular ways.

16 Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS), Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri (PCM) 1928–30, 1/1.13/6746 (Bolzano): Bolzano—consorzio agrario cooperativo dell'Alto Adige—finanziamento: 5 September 1928.

17 Rogers Brubaker argues that expressions of “ethnicity” are always “situational”—that is, determined by the particularity of encounters, organizations, events, relationship, etc. See Brubaker, Rogers, “Ethnicity without Groups,” in Ethnicity without Groups, 7–27 (Cambridge, 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 ACS, Segreteria Particolare del Duce, Carteggio Riservato, busta (b.) 2, fascicolo (f.) Mastromattei Giuseppe. The letter, written on 15 January 1927 to then-Prefect Ricci, is filed in Mastromattei's folder, even though he became prefect of Bolzano only in 1933.

19 Ibid.

20 See, for example, Ara, Angelo, “Scuola e minoranze nazionali in Italia, 1861–1940,” Studi Trentini di Scienze Storiche 4 (1990): 457–88Google Scholar.

21 ACS, Pubblica Sicurezza (PS), documenti suddivisi per anni, 1929, b. 157, f. C1: Bolzano, sottof.: disoccupazione: Prefect Marziali to the Ministry of the Interior, 5 November 1929.

22 ACS, Segreteria Particolare del Duce, Carteggio Ordinario, f. 541261, Bolzano—Provveditorato agli Studi, sottof. 3: Maestri elementari nelle zone mistilingue: Prefect Marziali to the head of state, 29 March 1932.

23 ACS, PCM 1934-36, 1/1–13/5119: Questioni relative a Trentini ed allogeni: 9 October 1935.

24 ACS, PS, Polizia Politica, b. 228, f. 3: cat. Q. 178/15: Bolzano—situazione politica e spirito pubblico in relazione agli avvenimenti politici e militari internazionali: Trent, 25 July 1940.

25 ACS, PS, documenti suddivisi per anni, 1932, sezione I, b. 12: 20 May 1932.

26 ACS, Segreteria Particolare del Duce, Carteggio Ordinario, f. 541261, Bolzano—Provveditorato agli Studi, sottof. 3: Maestri elementari nelle zone mistilingue: Prefect Marziali to the head of state, 29 March 1932.

27 Archivio Storico del Commissariato del Governo per la Provincia di Bolzano (ASCGB), 1943 IX/1 Situazione Politica in Alto Adige—Opzioni, Situazione politica in Alto Adige (secondo fascicolo): Carabinieri report, 11 July 1940.

28 See Roberta Pergher, “Le Opzioni in Sudtirolo e la politica demografica fascista: tra nazionalizzazione mancata e segregazione razziale,” in Geschichte und Region / Storia e Regione 18, no. 2 (2009), 110–28: special issue Umsiedlung und Vertreibung in Europa 1939–1955 / Spostamenti coatti di popolazioni in Europa 1939–1955, ed. Davide Rodogno and Michael Wedekind.

29 ACS, Segreteria Particolare del Duce, Carteggio Riservato, b. 2, f. Mastromattei Giuseppe.

30 Ibid.

31 ASCGB, 1942 X XI, Bolzano—Opere pubbliche –mutui: Prefect Mastromattei to the Ministry of the Interior, 18 August 1938.

32 ASCGB, 1941 XI: Bellini to prefect Marziali, 29 May 1933.

33 Ibid.

34 ASCGB, 1941 XI: Console P. Bellini to Mastromattei, 26 October 1933.

35 ASCGB, 1942 IX, X—8 Afflusso di lavoratori da altre provincie del regno: Segretario federale of Bolzano, Vittorio Passalacqua, to the prefect, 8 February 1941.

36 Ibid. Emphasis in the original.

37 ACS, PS, Polizia Politica, b. 176, f. 4: Società Montecatini: police report, 28 October 1935.

38 Ibid.

39 ACS, PS, Polizia Politica, b. 176, f. 4: Società Montecatini: police report, 19 July 1938.

40 ACS/ONC/Servizio Agrario—Aziende agrarie e bonifiche—Alto Adige—Castel di Nova/B 10/269 anticipazioni: Domenico Roso to the ONC presidency on 2 February 1930.

41 ACS, Ministero dell'Interno, Direzione Generale Amministrazione Civile, Divisione affari provinciali e comunali, Triennio 1934-36, b. 2460: Bolzano—15.100—affari vari, f. 15114–1: 20 February 1934.

42 ACS, Ministero dell'Interno, Direzione Generale Amministrazione Civile, Divisione affari provinciali e comunali, Triennio 1931–33, b. 2330: Bolzano—15.100—affari vari, f.15114–5: 22 February 1932.