PART ONE

FRAMEWORK CHAPTER ONE

HISTORY OF THE SOUTH TYROL CONFLICT AND ITS SETTLEMENT

Emma Lantschner

I. Introduction

In late summer 2006, politicians and historians in South Tyrol and its southern neighbouring province argued about whether or not to celebrate an anniversary. It was the anniversary of the Gruber-Degasperi Agreement concern- ing the fate of the German-speaking population living in , signed 60 years before by the Italian Prime Minister Alcide Degasperi and the Austrian Minister of Foreign Aff airs Karl Gruber in the wake of World War II. Th e Agreement is unanimously considered to be the document that made today’s autonomous system possible. However—and on this point opinions diff er considerably—was the signing of this Agreement an event that should be celebrated? Some claimed that the autonomy based on this Agreement was and still is only the ‘second-best’ solution because, by accepting it, the South Tyrolese relinquished their right to (external) self-determination. Others argued that only the people living in Tren- tino had a reason to celebrate, as the Agreement brought much more advantage to them than to the people living in South Tyrol.1 For an outsider, these discussions may seem surprising, being faced with a region that is listed in eighth place in a ranking of the richest regions in Europe, with a GDP that amounts to 160% of the EU25 average,2 an unemployment rate close to zero and (at least) three ethnic groups living together in (relative) peace.

1 Toni Ebner, “Nicht feiern—nicht vergessen”, , 5 September 2006; Gabriele Di Luca, “Settembre 1946: il trionfo della mediazione”, Corriere dell’, 5 September 2006; Fran- cesco Palermo, “60 anni fa. L’atto di nascita della nostra autonomia”, Alto Adige, 5 September 2006; Marco Dibona, “I ladini in lutto per i sessant’anni degli accordi De Gasperi-Gruber”, Il Gazzettino, 5 September 2006; Interview with Michael Gehler, “Das Mimimum vom Minimum”, Die neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung, 5 September 2006; Franco de Battaglia, “Degasperi non ha ingannato nes- suno”, Trentino, 7 September 2006; Karl Zeller, “Kein Geschenk Degasperis”, ff -Südtiroler Wochen- magazin, 7 September 2006. After having provided extensive coverage about the Agreement and the discussions surrounding it, the daily newspaper Die neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung conducted a survey among the South Tyrolean youth to fi nd out what they knew about the Agreement. Although the survey was very limited, it is quite telling that only one out of six knew about the content of the Agreement and its implications for South Tyrol. See Noemi Bonell, “Keine Ahnung aber dafür”, Die neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung, 23–24 September 2006. 2 According to this ranking, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen is Italy’s richest ‘region’. See Eurostat, News Release 63/2006, 18 May 2006, referring to the data of 2003. In 2006, South Tyrol was listed on the 22nd place in a ranking of the richest regions in Europe.