To Stay or To Go?

In 1939, under the Option policy, the people of South Tyrol faced the ordeal of deciding whether to emigrate to the German Reich or stay in fascist Italy. In Spinges/Spinga, an idyllic hamlet near Mühlbach/Rio di Pusteria, around 85 per cent of people chose to resettle – but their new life wasn’t what they thought it would be

Out of the shadows and into the open

After Mussolini came to power, the Italianisation of South Tyrol began at pace and German lessons were banned. Brave teachers continued to teach South Tyrolean children to read and write in German in illegal clandestine schools known as catacomb schools. This all changed in 1939 when German lessons were offered to the children whose families had chosen to emigrate, including here in Spinges. After learning Italian for around 20 years, South Tyrol’s children were now not only being taught German again, but were also being instilled with the ideology of the Nazi regime to prepare them for life in the German Reich.

Widow Theres Mair (née Valentini) from Spinges sitting at her dining table with a pensive yet resolute expression on her face. The red geraniums in front of her are called “Brennende Liab” (“burning love”) in South Tyrol and were as much a common sight on farmhouse balconies back then as they are today. After the Option policy was announced, both camps – the “Optanten” or “optants” who chose to leave and the “Dableiber” or “remainers” who chose to stay – made the flower the symbol of their propaganda campaigns. The remainers used the geranium to represent their loyalty and how they didn’t want to leave the beautiful flower or their fatherland behind, while the optants saw it as a symbol of their pain at losing their home.

Top Documenting cultural heritage

Although the South Tyroleans were said to be moving “home to the Reich”, there was still a desire to document the rural culture that would be lost in the process. The Association of Optants for Germany (AdO) was set up to support South Tyroleans through the emigration process and to organise their resettlement. In Spinges, the AdO cultural officer took photos of women going about their everyday lives.

A fanfare of a farewell

In June 1940, the Bishop of Brixen/Bressanone Johannes Geisler chose to emigrate to Germany in what was an unusual decision for a member of the clergy. Although the church had always been an integral part of life in South Tyrol and had a strong influence on its people, the clergy and the general population were poles apart when it came to the Option policy, with around 85 per cent of the clergy choosing to stay in South Tyrol.

Top left Worldly possessions piled on a wagon

The people who chose to leave faced the mammoth task of packing up all their worldly possessions, some of which they sent on ahead of them or temporarily put into storage. This was one of the reasons why families with fewer possessions were more likely to leave. Only men and unmarried women of full legal age were given the right to choose whether to stay or go. Married women had to do whatever their husbands decided. When the period for making the decision began on 1 July 1939, Spinges had 254 inhabitants with a right to choose. 224 of these decided to leave.

Bottom left The propaganda machine runs on

The resettlement process was organised by the German Office for Migration and Remigration (ADERSt), which was commanded by Head of the SS Heinrich Himmler. At the start of the resettlement process in 1940 in particular, parties were organised at the stations along the Brenner Line to say farewell to those leaving. Photos of people waving off their friends and family at Brixen station, for example, would have made excellent propaganda.

Top A new home in a strange land

This family of migrants from the Eisacktal valley pictured in front of their unfinished new home in the Austrian state of Carinthia had it lucky compared to many others, most of whom never even set eyes on their promised new homes. The consequences of the war were already making themselves felt across the German Reich. This meant that the homes in the “South Tyrolean settlements” that had to be built from scratch in places like Tyrol and Vorarlberg were mostly of poor quality. And far from being welcomed with open arms, the “foreigners” from South Tyrol were viewed with suspicion and ostracised.

Back to South Tyrol

Once the war was over, around a third of the South Tyroleans who had emigrated returned home. Despite being given a warm welcome at Brixen station, the returnees were branded as traitors of their homeland and found it difficult to reintegrate. Jobs and housing were scarce due to the huge numbers of people who had migrated from the south. New housing estates were built for the returnees across South Tyrol, but the residents were often subjected to open hostility.