Commonwealth and Foreign
TWO DICTATORS AGAINST TIROL
BY A SUDT1ROLE
WHEN the Peace Treaties drew a frontier through the heart of Tirol, where in the whole course of history no political boundary had existed, the Tirolese found consolation in the knowledge that their unity of spirit survived. While the northern half of Tirol was now a part of the Austrian Republic, the southern half belonged to the Kingdom of Italy ; yet King Victor Emmanuel's new subjects continued to call themselves Tirolese, and strove by every means in their power to main- tain their traditional character, more especially when this was subjected to the furious attacks of the Fascist regime. Today Tirol is to be erased from their hearts as it already is from the map, and the bitterness of this fact is all the greater because it is the Prophet of German nationalism who is Mussolini's accomplice in this task.
The character of the Tirolese accounts for the violence of their reaction. Like most mountain peoples, they are con- servative and slow-thinking, and will not adopt new ideas and forms until they have been well tried out elsewhere—and then only if they can be adapted to Tirolese life and habits. Thus the Italian attempts to assimilate the South Tirolese were pre- doomed to failure. National Socialism, too, with its loud propaganda methods, is foreign to the steady and self-contained character of the Tirolese. The Rosenberg philosophy is in too strong a contrast to their religious feeling, and the terrorist methods of the Third Reich cannot be reconciled with their fundamentally democratic and individualistic tradition.
For these reasons Tirol has been from the first unreceptive to the National Socialist Idea, and it was no coincidence that Schuschnigg made his last speech in Innsbruck. He hoped that in Tirol, which was his own home, he would be able to lead the final struggle against Hitler, in the still living spirit of the Wars of Liberation of 1809. There is no doubt that in Tirol, even more than elsewhere, his Austrian plebiscite would have shown a strong majority against Hitler.
The South Tirolese did not agree with the Austrian policy towards the Third Reich, since the differences between the two threw Austria back on Mussolini's support, to secure which it was forced to disinterest itself in the South Tirol resistance. More than anything else they resented the Austrian Government's action in suppressing the fortnightly paper Der Sudtiroler, published in Innsbruck, in which they spread information about the wrongs they suffered. They were brought to the conclusion that, in view of Austria's weakness, nothing but a reconciliation between that country and Ger- many could bring them relief. The North Tirolese pointed out that Hitler had repeatedly made it clear that he was not interested in S. Tirol ; but the S. Tirolese insisted that Hitler was so strong a nationalist that this attitude could only be a tactical one, and that to no one but a united German people could they look for any serious attempt to restore their freedom. They were supported in this opinion by the National Socialists, whose object it was to discredit the policy of the Austrian Government as nationalistically treacherous. This is illustrated, for instance, by a statement made at a party gathering in Innsbruck by the present Minister of Justice Franck, that " only a Germany which stretches from the North Sea to the Brenner can bring freedom to the country between the Brenner and Salurn."
On such occasions the Italians would protest to the National Socialist Party Headquarters, and would even secure disavowals there, but at the same time they were so anxious to break down S. Tirolese loyalty to Austria and to North Tirol that they permitted the formation of sections of the National Socialist Party among the German nationals living in S. Tirol. It even happened that Fascist officials would attend the open- ing ceremonies of such " cells," where " Heil Hitler! " would be heard as well as " Evviva Mussolini." No doubt the Italians hoped thereby to bring confusion into the S. Tirolese outlook and to emphasise the greatness of the Fascist Idea, which had now conquered Germany, too.
The S. Tirolese, however, came to quite a different con- elusion, seeing in these events a proof that the growing power of Germany was reaching as far as S. Tirol, and they awaited with increasing certainty the hour of release. After the solution of the Saar problem, after the Anschluss, after the reunion of the Sudetenland with Germany, after the return of Memel to the Reich, it seemed that their turn must come, Whatever promises Hitler might make to Mussolini, the S. Tirolese felt that, in the light of justice and of nationalist theory, he could not ignore the irresistible logic of their claim. It would be easier for the waters of the Etsch to flow up-hill than for a National Socialist Government to leave unsolved this problem of German honour and German freedom.
Now Hitler is solving this problem, though not in any sense of upholding German honour and freedom, but in a way which no Clerical or Communist, no " international Jew " or Freemason would have dared attempt: by driving these members of the " brotherhood of German peoples " from the home that has been theirs for a thousand years.
It is now known that Hitler, during his visit to Rome, came to an agreement with Mussolini, determining that the S. Tiro- lese must either emigrate to the Reich or be transferred to Southern Italy. This fact was revealed for the first time in June this year, when a delegation of -S. Tirolese went to Germany to petition the German Government for help. The information was given, at a Berchtesgaden hotel, by one of Hitler's subordinate officials, an interview with Hitler having been refused. A few days later the main points of the plan were officially explained by the German Consul-General in Milan to a meeting of German nationals at Meran. It is further known, through a reliable source, that the arrangement was also intended to remove one of Hitler's financial embar- rassments. Germany, for unspecified reasons, but probably on account of the Spanish campaign, has a large debt to Italy, which it is not in a position to pay, since there is no longer a market for German-manufactured goods in Italy, and the German coal-supply is not sufficient to cover even the home demand. Italy will therefore not pay in cash for the property of the expelled S. Tirolese, but will credit it to Germany. while the S. Tirolese will receive compensation in Reichsmark.
The news of the deal fell like a thunderbolt in Tirol. The duplicity of National Socialist policy, and its real attitude to S. Tirol, lie exposed, and the " Blood and Soil " legend is shown up as nothing more than a pretext, while Hitler appears in the light of an enemy of the country. North Tirol feels that this blow is meant as a punishment for its refusal to support the party.
The S. Tirolese find it almost impossible to throw off their illusions and to believe that Germany is ready to perpetrate something so unparalleled in the world's history as the un- warranted expulsion of its sons from house and home. Tirol is to be destroyed in the name of Nationalism—small wonder that many cannot believe it, or cling to the hope that some unpredictable development may save them. They point out the impossibility of finding land to re-settle a quarter of a million mountain peasants ; they recall the utter failure of the attempts made hitherto to settle Italians on S. Tirolese farms, and argue that the Italians cannot really intend to allow the fruitful valleys of S. Tirol to run to ruin.
Confusion reigns, and the intensely bitter feeling spreads into North Tirol, where a year of the National Socialist regime, which has brutally ignored local tradition, has already brought disappointment and discontent, even in the ranks of the party. Hitler has found it necessary to deprive the Tirolese of their ancient right to carry arms and to dissolve the famous and, in the truest sense of the word, democratic militia organisation for home defence, founded in 15t1 and known as the Standschuetzen. He knows that he has made enemies of the Tirolese and is taking preventive measures. But the Gestapo cannot suppress a moral revolt, and this moral revolt, starting from Tirol, will interfere considerably with Hitler's plans.
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