The Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement was a bilateral treaty that was signed by the foreign minister of
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
Karl Gruber, and the prime minister of
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi (; 3 April 1881 – 19 August 1954) was an Italian politician and statesman who founded the Christian Democracy party and served as prime minister of Italy in eight successive coalition governments from 1945 t ...
, on 5 September 1946. Recognized by international law, it granted the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
-speaking population of the Province of
South Tyrol
South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...
the right to autonomy and to preserve its cultural identity and customs. It also recognized
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
as official languages.
People were granted the right to return to their original
German given and family names, which had been abandoned by many during the
Fascists
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social h ...
'
programme of forced assimilation.
Content
# German-speaking inhabitants of the Bolzano Province and of the neighbouring bilingual townships of the Trento Province will be assured complete equality of rights with the Italian-speaking inhabitants, within the framework of special provisions to safeguard the ethnical character and the cultural and economic development of the German-speaking element.
In accordance with legislation already enacted or awaiting enactment the said German-speaking citizens will be granted in particular:
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elementary and secondary teaching in the mother-tongue;
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participation of the German and Italian languages in public offices and official documents, as well as in bilingual topographic naming;
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the right to re-establish German family names which were Italianized in recent years;
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equality of rights as regards the entering upon public offices, with a view to reaching a more appropriate proportion of employment between the two ethnical groups.
# The populations of the above-mentioned zones will be granted the exercise of autonomous legislative and executive regional power. The frame within which the said provisions of autonomy will apply, will be drafted in consultation also with local representative German-speaking elements.
# The Italian Government, with the aim of establishing good neighbourhood relations between Austria and Italy, pledges itself, in consultation with the Austrian Government and within one year from the signing of the present Treaty:
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to revise in a spirit of equity and broadmindedness the question of the options for citizenship resulting from the 1939 Hitler-Mussolini agreements;
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to find an agreement for the mutual recognition of the validity of certain degrees and University diplomas;
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to draw up a convention for the free passengers and goods transit between Northern and Eastern Tyrol both by rail and, to the greatest possible extent, by road;
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to reach special agreements aimed at facilitating enlarged frontier traffic and local exchanges of certain quantities of characteristic products and goods between Austria and Italy.
Further reading
*
Rolf Steininger (2006). ''Autonomie oder Selbstbestimmung? Die Südtirolfrage 1945/46 und das Gruber-De Gasperi-Abkommen'' (Innsbrucker Forschungen zur Zeitgeschichte, 2), Innsbruck-Vienna-Bolzano, StudienVerlag, ISBN 978-3-7065-4332-3.
*
Michael Gehler (2012). "Von der halben Autonomie zur inneren Selbstbestimmung". In Hannes Obermair et al. (eds). ''Regionale Zivilgesellschaft in Bewegung – Cittadini innanzi tutto'', Vienna-Bolzano, Folio Verlag, pp. 325–342, ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4.
* Giovanni Bernardini (ed.) (2016). ''L'Accordo De Gasperi-Gruber. Una storia internazionale.'' Trento, FBK Press, ISBN 978-88-98989-19-5.
References
External links
Austro-Italian Agreement, September 5th, 1946: original English version and subsequent annexes
1946 in Austria
1946 in Italy
Treaties concluded in 1946
Treaties of Italy
Treaties of Austria
Austria–Italy relations
History of South Tyrol
Alcide De Gasperi
Eponymous treaties
{{Austria-hist-stub