Southern Tyrol (Südtirol / Alto Adige) is simply a region whose contemporary political and cultural situation is simply a direct consequence of decisions taken after the end of planet War I.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1919 led to the division of historical Tyrol and the incorporation of its confederate part into the Kingdom of Italy, despite the clearly German-speaking nature of the region.This act, carried out without consulting the local population, started a long-term ethnic, cultural and legal conflict.
Fascist German Trouble
The Fascist period (1922–1943) brought about an intensive policy of talianisation, including a ban on the usage of German in public life, a forced change in the name of the village and a systemic settlement of the Italian population.
The effects of these actions formed a lasting sense of cultural danger and became the foundation of the post-war freedom movement.
‘Südtirol ist nicht Italien’ – password as the structure of discourse
Password ‘Südtirol ist nicht Italien’ (pol. "South Tyrol is not Italy") functions not as a unambiguous separatist slogan but as a carrier of collective historical memory. In the social discourse, it expresses its opposition to the imposed state sovereignty and stresses the cultural, linguistic and historical distinctness of the region. Depending on the explanation context, this slogan may mean: a request to defend autonomy, opposition to state centralism and a request for self-determination or in a extremist version – secession and reintegration into Austria.
Dominant batch
Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP) has served as a hegemon in regional policy since 1945. Her. program It is based on Christian-democratic regionalism and assumes maintaining South Tyrol within the Italian borders while maximising autonomy.
Arno Kompatscherrepresents pragmatic and technocratic. His activities focus on organization stability, the management of autonomy as a legal strategy and interethnic dialogue. In his view, South Tyrol's autonomy is simply a model of compromise between a national state and regional identity.
Separatists
Süd-Tiroler Freiheit (STF) represents the clearly separatist trend. The party's agenda assumes the right to self-determination, the holding of an independency referendum and the restoration of the historical unity of Tyrol.
Eva Klotz is 1 of the most recognizable form modern Tyrolean separatistism. Its political communicative is based on arguments of global law and comparisons with another regions seeking secession. In her activities there is simply a strong personalization of the message and a mention to the household tradition of the freedom movement.
Autonomy or separatism?
Die Freiheitlichen sits between autonomy and separatism. Theirs. program combines regionalism with elements of right-wing separatistism and economical liberalism.
The word “Freistaat Südtirol” functions as a political formula, leaving the issue of full independency open.
Deutschrock as an identity medium
The Deutschrock scene serves as a cultural channel for the expression of collective identity. Its characteristic feature is the emotional language, based on concepts of community, loyalty, opposition to dominant narratives and experience of peripherality.
Frei.Wild, syndrome coming straight from South Tyrol, it became a symbol of the penetration of popular culture and identity discourse. The team's texts do not formulate political programs, but operate a language compatible with the freedom narrative: Heimat (Poland), independence, community, opposition to stigmatisation. The band's ambition lies in the discrepancy between declared apoliticalism and the actual social reception in which Frei.Wild functions as a cultural hallmark of autonomous and free environments.
Freedom with scars
AutobiographyPhilipp Burger (pictured) is simply a key text for knowing the relation between individual biography, popular culture and identity policy. The book takes the form of a retrospective autobiographical communicative in which the author reconstructs his own ideological path: from youthful engagement in the utmost right-wing environment, through a period of identity crisis to declared rejection of extremism.
The central metaphor of the book is “close” understood as the lasting consequences of ideological experiences which cannot be completely removed but which can be reinterpreted. Burger does not present his biography as a moral past of redemption, but as a process of long-term negotiation of identity. From a technological perspective, the publication does not meet the criteria for analytical work or critical self-analysis.However, its importance is to supply empirical material for investigation on deradicalisation processes, auto-narration mechanisms and the relation between the music scene and political biography. The book so functions not as a billing document, but as a evidence to subjective reconfiguration of identity under conditions of strong social pressure.
Unantastbar, Goitzsche Front, Serum 114,Wilde Flamen or historically Böhse Onkelz co-create aesthetics Deutschrocka, which, despite no direct references to Tyrol, is included in a akin identity discourse.
Tyrolian intersection
Southern Tyrol remains the space where organization policy, historical memory and popular culture intersect. Political parties article conflict in the language of law and programs, while the music scene provides emotional and symbolic repertoire of meanings.
Philipp Burger's autobiography from Frei. chaotic is an example of how individual experience is incorporated into the wider scenery of disputes over identity, freedom and affiliation.
Matthäus Golla
Philipp Burger, Freiheit mit Narben. Mein Weg von rechts nach überall, Kampenwand Verlag, Vachendorf 2023, p. 432.
