South Tyrol or Alto Adige
This ethno-linguistic map serves as a tool to legitimise Italian territorial claims to the area situated between their established (red) border and what is defined as the ‘natural’ (brown) border, running across the watershed. Within this region, the majority of the population is depicted as speaking Italian (highlighted in pink).
According to the propaganda card, the ‘Tiroler Volksbund’ is depicted as the defender of ‘the Seven Municipalities,’ where the High German language ( Zimbrisch) is spoken, and to kick out the ‘irredentists’ who seek to impose Italianisation in South Tyrol.
Instituto Geografico de Agostini, Venezia Tridentina, Trentino e Alto Adige. Carta ethnico-linguistica, in: Atlante della nostra guerra, Novara 1916. Coll. S/T K.128, 41 x 60 cm.
Tiroler Volksbund, Die deutsche Grenze treu gewahrt. Das ist der Deutsch-Tiroler Art!, Innsbrück 1915. Coll. S/T W.1m.32, 9.5 x 14.5 cm.
