Während des I. Weltkriegs, im Jahre 1916, beugten sich mehrere soignierte Herrn über die Landkarte einer Gegend, die zu Österreich gehörte und sich Südtirol nannte. Die Sachverständigen arbeiteten in den Räumen der ehrwürdigen Società Dante Alighieri.
Ihr Leiter war der Senator Ettore Tolomei, der Herausgeber der Zeitschrift Archivio per l'Alto Adige. Alto Adige oder Überetsch lautete die italienische Bezeichnung für Südtirol, die er erfunden hatte.
Die würdigen Herrn hatten die Aufgabe, für zehntausend südtiroler Orts- und Flurnamen italienische Äquivalente zu finden, für den Fall nämlich, dass Italiens Truppen Österreich-Ungarn bezwingen und Südtirol erobern würden.
So geschah es. Die Provinz südlich des Brenner-Passes wurde 1919 italienisch, und zu den robusten tiroler Namen gesellten sich elegante italienische. Aus Brixen wurde Bressanone, und aus Franzensfeste Fortezza. Sterzing hiess nun Vipiteno, und Kaltern Caldaro. Wo die tiroler Namen wie Bachkiesel mit Halsweh klangen, tat sich melodischer Wohlklang auf.
als.tirol.noch.italienisch.war.at.german.pages.de
Das Gleiche in der Sprache der Vereinten Nationen:
In the northern part of Italy, up in the Alps, is the region of South Tyrol. It is a strategic region as it controls the mountain passes onto Vienna and Germany. It belonged to the Austrian Empire, but when Austria lost the First World War Italy annexed it. It had been a German-speaking area for over a thousand years, but the Italians next imposed their language on the area. In the middle of the capital Bozen or Bolzano they erected a triumphal arch with the Latin text on it: „We have brought culture to the barbarians“. And from one day to another they changed the place names. As a matter of fact they changed all names, they even changed family names and names on tombstones in cemeteries. They did so because they did know the power of names. In figure 1 [not shown here, ed.] you will see names like Sterzing, Wiesen, Deutschhaus (or Lichtenberg, Schlanders and Laas). These names have connotations of German dishes like Bratwurst, or Schinken or roasted chestnut. The figure is taken from an Italian map made of this Austrian area before the First World War.
In figure 2 [not shown here, ed.] you will see exactly the same area, but instead of Sterzing, Wiesen and Deutschhaus (Lichtenberg, Schlanders and Laas) the map bears the names Vipiteno, Prato and La Commenda (or Montechiaro, Silandro and Lasa) for the same localities. And these names bring memories of Italian dishes like pasta and prosciutto con melone. But, more important, these names on the map make the area look like an Italian area. That is the power of names. Naming things conveys power to the one who bestows the names! A comparison of figures 1 and 2 will show that it is indeed the same area. Imagine that from one day to another your hometown and the street on which you live would be re-baptized and receive a name in a foreign language! In 1945 South Tyrol was again assigned to Italy by the Allied forces, on the condition that it would respect the German culture and language of the area. Well, place names are part of the language and of culture, but up till now no German place names have entered any official Italian maps of South Tyrol. There is only one commercial publisher, the Italian Touring Club, which publishes atlases and maps with bilingual names for the area. It does so either because it wants to reflect the local situation that has bilingual road signs now, or because it also publishes the maps for a German-speaking clientele.
The use of names on maps is nearly as important as the use of boundaries. Naming things conveys power to the one who bestows the name. Reversely, if one is in control over something one can name it: one’s children or one’s house. Italian names show they have been bestowed by Italians, they show Italian sovereign rights. So if names are in Italian, it is an Italian region. Vice versa, if it is part of Italy, it should have Italian names. That is the reasoning, at least. It is the reasoning of nationalism, a very important force, last century, in Western Europe. As topographic mapping is considered to be some sort of sovereign right, just like taking censuses, and as topographic mapping is usually performed by the state’s civil servants, there is a tendency for minority language toponyms to be represented on the map in some transformed way, adapted to the state languages or to the raison d’etat, that is to reasons of state.
From the cultural viewpoint it should be a nation’s prerogative to preserve the cultural heritage of its population, its minority language population included. Toponyms are parts of this cultural heritage and should therefore be preserved in their minority language versions. The national authorities should also act as a go-between and allow foreign cultural communities to take cognisance of its minority language communities, toponyms included. By paying taxes the members of minority language communities share in the costs of national topographic surveys and the production of topographic maps. They should have the right therefore to see their home area represented on these maps as they know it, and not disguised in an unfamiliar onomastical cloak.
Based on this European experience a package of measures has been established that should ensure the restoration of minority toponyms: it consists of the following steps
a) Delimitation of minority language area boundaries
b) Introduction of bilingual transitional periods on the map: so after a majority names edition a bilingual edition is published which precedes a monolingual minority language edition
c) Official restoration of minority language name versions
d) Exclusive minority language rendering
e) Accompanied by the rendering of marginal information also in minority language
In Europe we have developed the feeling that recognition of their language and culture is an important contribution to the strengthening of the identity of minority language communities. The official use of their toponyms in the minority language is part of that recognition. The rendering of toponyms on maps might seem an insignificant aspect of this official recognition, but it should be stressed that these names often are the first and only representation by which the minority language community can manifest itself to outsiders. The acknowledgement of minority language toponyms on the map can be considered as an official recognition and acceptance of the minority language community.
A national state is nowadays considered responsible for the cultural heritage of all minority language communities, and minority language names also belong to this cultural heritage.
Als in Italien unlängst ein Referendum über Verfassungsreform anstand, versuchte die Regierung Renzi, sich die Stimmen der Südtiroler Volkspartei und der rechtsextremen Südtiroler Freiheit zu sichern, indem sie die Abschaffung unwichtiger italienischer Flur- und Ortsnamen versprach. Nur die alten tiroler Namen sollten noch gelten.
Dagegen erhob sich ein Sturm der italophonen Tiroler und anderer Italiener mit Hilfe einiger deutschsprachigen Unterstützer:
Eine Gruppe italienischer und deutschsprachiger Akademiker wandte sich mit einem Appell an den Präsidenten Sergio Mattarella und die Provinz Bozen, dass die italienischen Namen als Teil der Zweisprachigkeit Südtirol bewahrt werden sollten, deren Beseitigung "ohne jede ernsthafte geschichtliche Begründung" drohe.
Tatsächlich stimmte Südtirol/Welschtirol (Alto Adige/Trentino) mit 54 Prozent für die im Referendum vorgeschlagene Reform. Genauer gesagt, stimmte nur Südtirol mit "Ja". Doch das half nicht: Renzi verlor die Volksabstimmung spektakulär, und damit bleiben Ettore Tolomeis Namensschöpfungen weiterhin erhalten, und die Italiener müssen sich nicht den Kopf zerbrechen, wie man Ortsnamen wie "Schlern" wohl ausspricht. Und in der Bar am Brenner gibt es immer noch Espresso statt Einspänner.
--ed
