1972: Road Sign Conflict

Bilingual place name signs are damaged and dismantled

The referendum of October 10, 1920 left Carinthia undivided as half the Slovenian-speaking residents of voting zone A had voted to remain in Austria. This was achieved not least with concessions for the minority group, which, however were never honoured. The contribution of the Slovenes in the re-establishment of Austria after the Second World War was also never acknowledged. That Article 7 of the Austrian State Treaty of 1955 required bilingual topographical inscriptions for the mixed-language areas was never implemented.

More than 50 years after the referendum, the Bruno Kreisky government tried to enforce bilingual signage on the basis of the 1961 census in places with at least a 20% minority population. This applied to 205 localities in 36 municipalities. After the first riots in September 1972, the “road sign storm” broke out. The new bilingual signs were torn down or vandalised, the signs ultimately unloaded in front of the Office of the Provincial Government of Carinthia. The anger was directed against Governor Hans Sima and Chancellor Kreisky.

External Resources (in German only):
http://ww1.habsburger.net/de/kapitel/der-kaerntner-abwehrkampf-und-die-volksabstimmung-am-10-oktober-1920

Road Sign Storm in Carinthia:
https://www.mediathek.at/akustische-chronik/suche/detail/atom/13E8E0C0-23C-0000A-00000C70-13E84746/pool/BWEB/