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V. Germany, Italy and South Tyrol, 1938–45

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2010

C. F. Latour
C. F. Latour
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
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Extract

One of the basic points of the National Socialist programme was the promise of the ‘Liberation’; of German nationality groups who had come under the control of neighbouring states through the peace treaties of 1919. Accusing a country of maltreating its German minority became a classic Nazi gambit in opening aggressive operations in the late 1930's. In most instances Nazi propaganda charges were vastly exaggerated, but if ever there existed a situation which might have provided some justification for Hitlerian wrath, it was Fascist repression in South Tyrol.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , 1965 , pp. 95 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1965

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References

1 By far the most complete and scholarly account of the forced Italianization programme of Fascist Italy is that by Herre, Paul, Die Südtiroler Frage (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1927)Google Scholar; of considerable interest also is Dörrenhaus, Fritz, Das Deutsche Land an der Etsch (Vienna: Tyrolia, 1933)Google Scholar. Reut-Nicolussi, Eduard, Tirol unterm Beil (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1927)Google Scholar is a more emotional report by a prominent victim of Fascist measures. For an interesting proFascist apologia, see Villari, Luigi, The Expansion of Italy (London: Faber & Faber, 1930)Google Scholar.

2 Weinberg, Gerhard L. (ed.), Hitlers Zweites Buch. Ein Dokument aus dem Jahr 1928 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1961), pp. 176–215Google Scholar. An excellent commentary on Hitler's South Tyrolean views by the editor appears in section m of the Introduction.

3 Cf. Wiskemann, Elizabeth, The Rome-Berlin Axis (London: Oxford University Press, 1949), p. 47Google Scholar.

4 Cf. Sofisti, Leopoldo, Male di Frontiera (Difesa del Brennero) (Bolzano: Cappelli, 1950), p. 17Google Scholar.

5 Such as the activities of the NSDAP chief in , Bozen, Ortsgruppenleiter Kaufmann, leading to his arrest by Italian police on 16 June 1938, which caused Hitler to ‘throw a fit’ (seeGoogle ScholarHassel, Ulrich von, Vom Anderen Deutschland (Zürich: Atlantis, 1946), pp. 60–1Google Scholar; and Documents on German Foreign Policy, series D, VI, no. 549).

6 Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-45, Series D, I, encl. to no. 729.

7 Ibid. no. 748.

8 Ciano, Galeazzo, Tagebücher 1937/38 (Hamburg, 1949), entry of 3 April 1938Google Scholar.

9 For a more detailed account of German-Italian diplomatic manoeuvres in the South Tyrol question between March 1938 and June 1939, see Latour, Conrad F., Sudtirol und die Achse Berlin-Rom, 1938-1943 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1962), pp. 22–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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14 Documents on German Foreign Policy, series D, IV, no. 427.

15 Ibid. no. 444 and encl.

16 Reichsführer-SS, Persönlicher Stab, Akte Südtirol (EAP 161-b-12/172), at Bundesarchiv, Koblenz. Henceforth cited as RFSS-Südtirolakte.

17 Loc. cit.

18 Documents on German Foreign Policy, series D, VI, no. 562.

19 At least four detailed protocols by participants make a rather exact reconstruction of the meeting possible. The most detailed is a ‘Protokollarische Niederschrift’ (14 pp.) by SS-Gruppenführer Wolff, chief of Himmler's personal staff. Another (9 pp.) was prepared by SS-Oberführer Ulrich Greifelt, then Chief of the SS-Bureau ‘Vierjahresplan’. Himmler himself prepared a four-page memorandum which he showed to Hitler on 25 June (all in RFSS-Südtirolakte). Finally, there is a summary on the results of the conference by Undersecretary of State , Woermann, in Documents on German Foreign Policy, series D, VI, no. 562Google Scholar.

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24 RFSS-Südtirolakte.

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26 Cf. Seabury, Paul, The Wilhelmstrasse (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1954)Google Scholar.

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28 A whole folder (no. 743, Footlocker 45, EA P 161-D-12/120) in the files of Reicks-fuhrer-SS, Personlicher Stab (Himmler File) is devoted to the personal correspondenc e between Himmle r and Bocchini.

29 Dollmann, undated copy of a letter to Himmler (probably 25 Aug. 1939), RFSS-Südtirolakte.

30 Greifelt to Wolff, 14 Sept. 1939, RFSS-Südtirolakte.

31 Documents on German Foreign Policy, series D, VIII, no. 244. What struck the Italians as an infuriating example of German pettiness in fact suggested a certain Italian inability to understand the South Tyrolean mentality: such hand-wrought fixtures as door-knobs and locks were prized heirlooms, passed lovingly on from generation to generation. The Italians had never quite understood this Tyrolean passion for property and family tradition.

32 ‘Memorandum ttber die deutsch-italienischen Verhandlungen…’, RFSS-Südtirolakte. See also Documents on German Foreign Policy, series D, no. 244, footnote 3.

33 Ibid. no. 275, footnote 1.

34 Reichsführer-SS, Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums, Der Menscheneinsatz: Grundsätze, Anordnungen und Richtlinien (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1940), especially pp. 128–34Google Scholar. Also, Ibid.1. Nachtrag (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1941), and Italy, Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Accordi fra Vltalia e la Germania relativi al trasferimento di allogeni e cittadini germanici (Rome: Tipografia Riservata del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, 1940)Google Scholar.

35 ‘Memorandum iiber die deutsch-italienischen Verhandlungen…’, RFSS-Südtirol-akte.

36 Himmler to Bocchini, II Nov. 1939, loc. cit.

37 ‘Memorandum iiber die deutsch-italienischen Verhandlungen…,’ loc. cit.

38 Five untitle d pages in Italian, listing the points of the agreement, date d 15 Nov. 1939, and signed by Buffarini and Wolff (loc. cit.).

39 Ciano's Diary, entr y of 21 Dec. 1939.

40 ‘Niederschrift über das erste, zweite und dritte Gespräch zwischen Dr Luig und Exz. Buffarini, 19., 24. und 25. Dezember 1939’, RFSS-Südtirolakte.

41 Der Menscheneinsatz, p. 115.

42 Bene, Otto, Die Südtiroler Umsiedlung. Dokumente zu den Aufzeichungen des Gesandten Otto Bene (Typescript, 1952)Google Scholar, in Bundesarchiv, Koblenz: Kleine Erwerbungen, No. 27–1/5, p. 103Google Scholar.

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44 Weigend, Guido G., The Cultural Patterns of South Tyrol (University of Chicago: Department of Geography, 1949), p. 153Google Scholar.

45 Handwritten notation by Himmler, undated, in Reichsführer-SS, Personlicher Stab, (‘Himmler Files’) EAP 161-D-12/172. (Hereafter cited as ‘Himmler Files’).

46 Der Menscheneinsatz, p. 115. These figures include some 1700 ethnic Germans from the Kanal Valley (area of Tarvisio).

47 , Greifelt, ‘Gedanken zur siidtiroler Umsiedlung’, Himmler Files, loc. citGoogle Scholar.

48 See, for example, Goebbels, Joseph, The Goebbels Diaries, ed. and trans. Lochner, Louis P. (Garden City: Doubleday, Doran, 1948), entry of 26 04 1942, p. 189Google Scholar.

49 Der Menscheneinsatz, p. 116.

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55 Loc. cit. and ‘Auszug aus dem Aktenvermerk des SS-Gruppenführers Greifelt über seinen Vortrag beim Reichsführer-SS am 10. 8. 1942’, Himmler File, ‘Akt no. 100’, EAP 161-b-12/22. Also, , Schechtmann, op. cit. p. 64Google Scholar.

56 The threat of a forced African resettlement did not seem unduly implausible to the South Tyroleans, it had actually been proposed in 1936 by the celebrated Italian chauvinist and Fascis t Senator Ettore Tolomei (cf. Archivio per l'Alto Adige (Bolzano), XXXI, 1936, 640 ff.)Google Scholar.

57 Cf. , Bene, op. cit. pp. 171 ffGoogle Scholar. Reports to the Foreign Ministry of 5 Nov. and 21 Dec. 1940, 24 Feb. 1941.

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60 For details, see , Latour, op. cit., ch. vi: ‘1942-43-Podesta Triumphans’, pp. 87-102Google Scholar.

61 The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943, entries of 5, II, and 16 Sept. 1943.

62 Telegram, , Bormann to , Hofer, Himmler Files, no. 219, EAP 161-b-12/239Google Scholar.

63 Cf. , Latour, op. cit. pp. 119–22Google Scholar.

64 For example, SS-Obergruppenführer Berger to Himmler, 19 Oct. 1943, Himmler Files, EAP 161-D-12/337; or Möllhausen, Eitel Friedrich, Die Gebrochene Achse (Alfeld/Leine: Alpha, 1949), p. 249Google Scholar.