Vietato

Benito Mussolini, Dictator of Italy, decreed that the words, Tyrol, South Tyrol and Tyrolese be expurgated from the Italian language. Even the Austrian paper, Der Tyroler, must change its name. In many minds the cession of the Tyrol to Italy by Austria under the terms of the "Treaty of St. Germain (1919) was one of the most flagrant contradictions of moral rights in the history of the peace conferences. Formerly a southern province of Austria, the Tyrol was annexed by Italy on purely strategic grounds. The population of the Tyrol is overwhelmingly Austrian; there are more than ten Austrians to every Italian. A plebiscite, held to determine the will of the male population, resulted in an enormous majority for a return to Austria. It is unlikely, therefore, that the suppression of the word Tyrol and its adjuncts will do much more than intensify the deep hate of the Tyrolese toward the Italians.