Living Apart Together

Monument to Victory, 1928, Bolzano/Bozen. Photo: TES.

South Tyrol was part of Austria until 1918, but this German-speaking territory was occupied in November 1918 and subsequently annexed by Italy in 1919.

The Italian name for this region is Alte Adigo, named after the river Adigo, Etsch in German. The forced Italianization started with the rise of fascism in 1922. Nowadays, only a few would like to change this situation again.

The autonomy and recognition of German as language and culture established a modus vivendi of two different cultures, that are living apart together.

One monument perfectly reflects and provides a link to this history, the events of two World Wars and their aftermath within the context of national and international events.

The monument is the place of an exhibition that covers the difficult relationship between the different language groups within the social and political framework of the second half of the twentieth century to the present day.

The monument is a legacy of the Italian (1922-1943) and German dictatorships (1933-1945), which almost destroyed European civilization. (Further information: www.monumentoallavittoria.com)