At the end of World War I, the Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) granted Italy some territories that had previously belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy. These included Trentino and South Tyrol, which together were given the name Tridentine Venetia. South Tyrol was renamed Alto Adige;1The name is derived from the Italian name of the Adige, the river that rises in the Upper Venosta Valley (Val Venosta) and flows into the Adriatic Sea. in 1927 it became the Province of Bolzano. In the new territorial regime, the Brenner Pass—at an altitude of 1,372 metres—was now the state border between the Kingdom of Italy and the Republic of Austria (1919–1934).
Italian was spoken predominantly in the province of Trento, while the majority of the population in the province of Bolzano was German-speaking. After Hitler came to power in January 1933, the status of South Tyrol/Alto Adige could have been an obstacle to the alliance with Italy. However, Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) decided not to make any claims and reached an agreement with Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) in 1939 to the effect that the German-speaking ’Altoatesini’ [South Tyroleans] could, if they wished, opt for citizenship of the Reich, to which they would then also have to move.
Sinti in the Tridentine Venetia
A number of Sinti families lived in the Alpine valleys of the Tridentine Venetia. They called themselves Gagkane [German] Sinti and Estraixaria [Austrian] Sinti. The latter had arrived in South Tyrol around the turn of the 20th century. They usually moved between the historical Tyrol, Trentino, Carinthia, the area around Gorizia and the Triestine Karst.
The Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye also regulated the issue of citizenship for those populations who were subject to a new state from 1919 onwards. In the former Habsburg territories, Italian citizenship was automatically granted to all those who were born in the jurisdictions transferred to Italy, but who could also prove that they had the right of origin [Italian: diritto di pertinenza] on 24 May 1915, the day Italy joined World War I.
According to Italian jurisprudence, preferential criteria also included descent from a father who in turn had the right of origin and official residence in the territories ceded to Italy at the end of the war. This situation was disadvantageous for the Roma and Sinti of the Tridentine Venetia, as they had rarely lived in a single place for their entire lives or over several generations.
Arrest and Banishment
By circular decree of 6 December 1937, the Chief of Police Arturo Bocchini (1880–1940) ordered the arrest of all ‘Gypsies’ located in the provinces of Bolzano, Trento, Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume and Zara.2Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS) [Central State Archives], Ministero degli Interni (MI) [Ministry of the Interior], Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza (DGPS) [Directorate General of Public Security], Divisione Affari Generali e Riservati (DAGER) [General and Secret Affairs Division], cat. A4bis, b. 159, Da Capo della polizia a prefetti di Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume, Zara, Bolzano e Trento, 6 dicembre 1937 circolare telegrafica n. 459416 [From the Chief of Police to the Prefects of Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume, Zara and Trento, 6 December 1937, telegraphic circular decree no. 459416]. Once their number had been determined, it was decided by circular decree of 17 January 1938 that the ‘suspicious’ ones should be sent to central and southern Italy, where they were obliged to take up permanent residence and regular work. Those who were classified as ‘dangerous’ were sentenced to police banishment (confino).3ACS, MI, DGPS, Polizia amministrativa e sociale [Administrative and Social Police], b. 865, Fasc. Zingari. Statistica [Gypsy. Statistics], Da Capo della polizia a prefetti Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume, Zara, Bolzano, Trento, 17 gennaio 1938, circolare telegrafica n. 1803/10 [From Chief of Police to Prefects of Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume, Zara, Bolzano Trento, 17 January 1938, telegraphic circular decree no. 1803/10].
Research to date has identified around 15 people from the province of Trento who were forced to take up residence in central and southern Italy, while in the Province of Bolzano four women were sentenced to banishment and sent to southern Italy. In order to escape these police measures, many Sinti left Tridentine Venetia and travelled to other Italian provinces, where it was easier to hide.
Internment in Localities
When Italy entered World War II, Sinti and Roma were interned in concentration camps (campi di concentramento) and localities. The prefect of Bolzano decided not to designate places for internment, explaining that Bolzano was an important border province from a military point of view. In the Province of Trento, however, Castello Tesino was designated as a place of internment and 14 people were forced to live there from April 1941 to September 1944. The family interned in Castello Tesino consisted of Giuseppina Wagner (1876–unknown) and her three adult children, Pietro (1914–unknown), Anna (1908–unknown) and Enrico (1897–unknown); the children, two of whom already had children of their own, bore their father’s surname, Pasquale. One of Enrico Pasquale’s seven children, Francesco (1922–unknown), was called up in 1942. Enrico Pasquale’s wife, Giovanna Mayer (1905–1943), died of a serious infection during internment in 1943.
September 1943 onwards
From September 1943, the provinces of Trento, Bolzano and Belluno were combined to form the ‘Operationszone Alpenvorland’ (OZAV) and incorporated into the German Reich. The head of the civil administration was Franz Hofer (1902–1975), Gauleiter of Tyrol-Vorarlberg.
The family in Castello Tesino remained there until at least September 1944, when the men were ordered to report for forced labour in Trento. A few weeks later, on 28 December 1944, Enrico Pasquale was ordered to report to the main command in Verona for deportation. To avoid being sent to Germany as a forced labourer, he fled. One of Enrico Pasquale’s sons, Vittorio (1927–2005), has repeatedly claimed that part of his family was interned in the Bolzano-Gries SS camp, but to date no contemporary documents have been found to confirm this. The documents relating to the internees were destroyed by members of the SS shortly before the camp was liberated by the Allies. Vittorio Pasquale wrote several poems about the persecution of Sinti and Roma, some of which were published in the magazine Lacio Drom.
After the Liberation
After the war, the tensions between the Republic of Italy and the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia led many Sinti families who had previously earned their living travelling in the Alpine region between Julian Venetia and Tridentine Venetia to settle in the provinces of Trento and Bolzano. Many of them remained without citizenship or identity papers until the 1960s.
