1938: Hitler’s Visit to Rome in May

By 1937 at the latest, the question of the South Tyroleans in Italy was causing problems for the “Berlin-Rome Axis”. Ulrich von Hassell, the German ambassador in Rome who was known to the authorities as a critic of National Socialism and friend to the South Tyroleans, was recalled from Rome in February 1938 at the demand of Italy’s foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano. Fascist Italy had been put on the defensive by “Anschluss” (“annexation”) fever in Tyrol and South Tyrol. Austria’s incorporation into Nazi Germany could be read as Mussolini’s first retreat, or even defeat, in the face of Hitler. In response, the Italians tried to use the supposedly anti-Italian demonstrations that took place in Innsbruck during the “Anschluss” to put pressure on German diplomats and politicians. They hoped to gain certainty and assurances that Hitler would relinquish any claim to South Tyrol—and were successful. Looking for possibilities for making amends with its ally, the Foreign Office in Berlin turned to the problem of South Tyrol. On 24 March 1938, the head of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI, Coordination Centre for Ethnic Germans), SS-Obergruppenführer Werner Lorenz, submitted proposals for South Tyroleans to be either completely assimilated or resettled in an area in the east yet to be conquered.

Developments supporting a radical solution to the South Tyrol question culminated in Hitler’s visit to Rome from 3 to 10 May 1938. While Pope Pius XI gave the “Führer” the cold shoulder and the two dictators failed to reach agreement on a military pact, tentative discussions did take place regarding the partial resettlement of the South Tyroleans. The famous toast given by the German dictator on the Piazza Venezia on 7 May 1938 “to the Alpine border erected by nature between our two countries”, which was to be considered “forever untouchable”, was met with applause by the crowd. When Hitler spoke of a “legacy” to the German people, this was taken up in the more legally binding sense of a “testamento”. Eduard Reut-Nicolussi, a leading campaigner for South Tyrolean home rule, viewed it as a “terrible blow”. One year later, the resettlement was agreed between Berlin and Rome.