The South Tyrol Conflict 1959-1969

Between 1959 and 1969 the South Tyrol conflict was very high on the agenda of Austrian foreign and domestic policy. According to Foreign Secretaries Bruno Kreisky (1959-1966), Lujo Toncic-Sorinj (1966-1968) and Kurt Waldheim (1968/69) it was No. 1. On September 5, 1946, the Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi and Austrian Foreign Secretary Karl Gruber had signed an agreement in Paris which essentially provided autonomy for the German-speaking inhabitants of South Tyrol. As it turned out, and contrary to the agreement, the measures of autonomy which were granted by Rome did not apply to South Tyrol (Alto Adige) but to the entire "Trentino-Alto Adige" administrative region with its overall Italian majority. At the same time the influx of Italians into South Tyrol continued - almost in the same way as under the Fascists. Exasperation and a series of bomb explosions in South Tyrol finally made the Austrian government take the case to the United Nations - against very strong Western pressure. On October 31, 1960, the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution which urged Italy and Austria "to resume negotiations with a view to finding a solution for all differences relating to implementation of the Paris Agreement". The negotiations failed which led to renewed terrorist activities in South Tyrol. Italy was finally prepared to sit down for serious negotiations which, in 1969, led to an agreement called "the Package". It was the basis for a new autonomy. During those years there were endless secret meetings, trials and bomb attacks, people were killed. Secret services, terrorists, Neo-nazis etc. turned South Tyrol into a kind of terrorist "playground" . Up to now we knew very little of what really went on. Now, newly declassified documents in Vienna, Innsbruck, Rome, Bonn, Munich, London, Washington, New York and private papers are available.

There are four volumes with about 2400 pages. This is the first collection of hitherto unknown and inaccessible Austrian, German, Italian and English documents from archives in Vienna, Innsbruck, Rome, Bolzano, Bonn, Munich, London, Washington and New York. They provide for the first time first class insight into a national and international problem. These volumes cover the period 1959 - 1963 (and not, as originally planned and proposed 1959 - 1969). There are two reasons for that which were not foreseeable at the beginning of the project: 1) Unexpected and rather surprising access to the archives of the Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP - The South Tyrolean People`s Party) housed in the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives in Bolzano, and to the minutes of the Italian Cabinet in Rome (at the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome). This led to a considerable increase in material. 2) The agreement between the Institute of Contemporary History of the University of Innsbruck, the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives in Bolzano and the Museo Storico in Trient to publish an eleven-volume edition of documents (covering the period 1945 to 1969; volumes 1 to 5 organised by ao. Prof. Dr. Michael Gehler). The four completed volumes contain 708 documents. Vol. 6 (1959 in two parts) 286 documents, vol. 7 (1960/61) 312 documents, vol. 8 (1962/63) 110 documents. Of these documents about 20 % are Italian and 5 % English (not translated, but transcribed in the original languages). Three more volumes are planned for the period 1964 to 1969. I have submitted a new project proposal for these volumes to the FWF.