[Enclosure]
Aide-Mémoire of the Austrian Federal
Government16
I. Referring to the decision arrived at by the Council of Foreign
Ministers on 14th September, 1945 concerning a minor rectification of
the Austro-Italian frontier, which decision was confirmed by a
resolution adopted by the Council on 1st May, 1946, the Federal
Government of Austria has the honour to present to the Deputies of the
Foreign Ministers, by way of a continuation of its Note of 10th May,
1946, some definite proposals for a minor rectification of the
Austro-Italian frontier.17
This rectification starts with the idea that it will effect an
improvement in the present demarkation line of the frontier and put an
end to the harm caused in the course of the demarkation of this frontier
in 1919.
The Austro-Italian frontier region bears in general the character of a
region of high mountains which have a deciding influence on its
geographical structure, its communications, and, in consequence, also on
the demarkation of the frontier line.
The proposed demarkation of the frontier must take account of these
circumstances.
II. As a result of the demarkation of the frontier as fixed by the Treaty
of Saint-Germain, the Klagenfurt-Innsbruck line was cut and the Northern
Tyrol separated from the Western Tyrol. In this way
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the Tyrol lost its territorial uniformity
and consequently the administration is faced with extraordinary
difficulties. A minor rectification which would once more incorporate
into the Austrian territory the sector of the railway line
Klagenfurt–Lienz and Brenner–Innsbruck; the backbone of which would be
Pustertal and the Upper Eisacktal, would without any doubt, have a most
beneficial effect on the traffic and the economic life of Austria. In
this way Austria’s position in the European traffic system would be
appreciably consolidated, because through the acquisition of this line
of railway the narrow corridor of the Northern Tyrol would become a wide
communication line not only between Western and Eastern Austria, but
principally between south-eastern and western Europe. It will, besides
be possible to combine into one, from the point of economics and
communications, the Austrian Federal lands of Carinthia, the Tyrol and
Salzburg, which at present, on account of a detour about 150 kilometres
long of the Tauern railway, possess only one means of railway
communication, which results in a considerable loss of time. This detour
must at present be made in order to avoid, in the case of transportation
of goods between the Austrian provinces of Carinthia and the Eastern
Tyrol on the one hand and the western regions of Austria on the other, a
double passage of merchandise through the customs, while crossing
Italian territory.
While the acquisition of this railway line would resolve into very great
advantages to Austria, in losing it Italy would suffer only in a minor
way. This line in actual practice is of no significance to Italy except
as a transversal cutting her line of communication from the north to the
south between Innsbruck and Bolzano. In accordance with statistical
data, the following quantities of goods were transported in both
directions along the line Lienz–Franzensf este:
1914 |
850,000 |
tons |
1936 |
154,000 |
“ |
The demarkation of the frontier line suggested by way of
a “minor rectification” would follow the line of the watershed between
the Rienz and the Piave, would cross the valley of the Eisack south of
Brixen, once more to follow the watershed between the rivers Eisack and
Etsch and to join at last the Austrian frontier at Zuckerhütl. If the
proposed rectification of the frontier contains both the lateral valleys
of the Upper Eisack and those south of Pustertal, it is with the object
of avoiding their complete cutting-off from their principal valleys and
the exposure by this act of the population of these transversal valleys
to economic ruin.
On account of its geographical situation, Brixen is the economic and
cultural centre of the Upper Eisacktal and of the Pustertal. For
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centuries it was the seat of
the diocesan authorities, on which the Austrian territories also
depended for their administration. Ever since that time Brixen was also
the seat of the administrative authorities of the region of the valley
of the Upper Eisack and of its lateral valleys.
If the new frontier were traced north of the town, somewhere between
Franzensfeste and Brixen, the town would find itself separated from its
hinterland and condemned to the loss of its cultural and economic
importance. At the same time, the upper Eisacktal and the Pustertal
would certainly find themselves deprived of their economic centre of
gravity. In fact, the generally narrow valley of the Eisack forms, north
of Brixen, a sheet of water 4–5 kilometres wide, and the town is
situated at its southern end. Immediately below Brixen the Eisack forms
a new valley with just enough room for a railway and a road. It is,
therefore, reasonable to say that Brixen, given the geographical
structure of the territory, is so closely connected through its commerce
and traffic with the Pustertal and the upper Eisacktal, that any fixing
of a frontier north of the town which would separate it by political
frontiers from its valleys would inevitably condemn it to economic and
cultural ruin. The town of Brixen bears an undoubtedly Austrian
character. In accordance with the latest Italian statistics, the
population amounts to about 12,000 inhabitants, about 10,000 of whom
speak German and 2,000 are of Italian nationality.
The entire region which would be affected by the above rectification of
frontier has an approximate area of 3,200 square kilometres, say 1 per
cent, of the total surface area of Italy. On account of the Alpine
configuration of the region, 13 per cent, of the total territory is
composed of rocky desert and glaciers. Only 6 per cent, of the territory
is actually available for intensive cultivation, while the rest is
composed of forests and meadows. These figures are derived from the
Italian agricultural survey of 1929–1930.
The Italian census of 1939, which distinguished only southern Tyrolese
(Alloghani, i.e. German-speaking inhabitants or Ladine) and Italians,
gave for the region involved in the rectification of the frontier the
following figures:
German-speaking inhabitants including 5,000 Ladine |
74,032 |
Italians |
9,243 |
|
83,275 |
This figure represents very nearly 2 per cent, of the
total population of Italy. Furthermore, the Italian population does not
constitute the aboriginal element, because it is composed of elements
who immigrated since 1919.
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The economic configuration of the region is above all conditioned by the
Alpine character of the country. The majority of the population is
composed of peasants who are mainly occupied in fruit-growing, the
cultivation of the vine and the growing and exploitation of forests. On
the other hand, the hotel industry, which is well developed in the towns
and the more important villages, is a basis for a tourist industry which
is capable of development on account of the tourist traffic in the
neighbouring regions of the eastern and Northern Tyrol, of Carinthia and
Salzburg, which regions will not form a united tourist area unless this
rectification of the frontier is carried out. Natural riches which could
serve as a basis for the development of an industry of any importance
are completely absent from this region, where no mineral or other
deposits are to be found. While the Italian Government had intensely
industrialised the regions of Bolzano and of Meran since 1919, the
regions of the Pustertal and of the upper Eisack valley were not
involved in this evolution. Artisans still predominate in the towns and
the more important villages, with the exception of a number of
insignificant enterprises of the textile and timber industries.
Among the hydro-electric power stations of a major importance which were
established by Italy in the Southern Tyrol, one large and two small ones
are situated in the area affected by this minor rectification. They are
the power stations at Brixen, Pfitsch, south-east of the Brenner, and at
Vals, immediately north of the confluence of the Rienz and Eisack. These
three power stations supply almost the entire output of their energy to
the Italian railways for the Brenner line. They produce an approximate
total of 615,000,000 KWH per annum, the power station at Brixen taking
first place with a production of 500,000,000 KWH per annum. In
comparison with this, in accordance with Italian statistical data of
1939, the energy production of the entire province of Bolzano stood at
2,006,000,000 KWH per annum, while the entire production of Italy
amounted to 17,683,686,000 KWH. The Pustertal and its tributary valleys
do not lend themselves to the installation of hydro-electric power
stations on account of their gentle slopes. For this reason no plant of
this kind was therefore constructed in this region.
The Austrian Government has on a number of occasions declared that it was
prepared in the case of the restoration to Austria of the Southern Tyrol
to accord to the Italian hydroelectric power stations of this region a
special status in virtue of which these works would remain Italian
property and would be allowed without any hindrance to export the entire
output of their energy into Italy. A detailed résumé18 of these proposals made by the
Austrian Government and
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concerning the legal settlement of the economic problem of the
hydroelectric energy is attached to this Note.
III. Apart from the minor rectifications in accordance with paragraph II
in the Brixen–Bruneck region, the Austrian Government suggests a similar
one in the region of the Kanaletal. This small strip of territory, with
an area of 362 square kilometres and a population of about 8,000
inhabitants, situated with its principal town, Tarvis, on the northern
slope of the Carnic Alps, formed for centuries a part of the Austrian
province of Carinthia and in 1919 found itself separated from Austria
for purely strategic reasons. It is an almost entirely German-speaking
area. In a Note addressed to the Chairman of the Allied Council, dated
15th March, 1946,19 the
Federal Government of Austria requested the Allied Powers to arrange
that the frontier commission entrusted by the Council of the Deputies of
the Foreign Ministers to study the ethnographic and economic problem of
the province of Venezia Giulia should extend its investigations into the
Kanaletal and that a plebiscite should finally decide the position of
this region.
This Note, as well as a brief Memorandum on the history and the economic
and ethnographic position of the Kanaletal, is presumably in the
possession of the Council. Nevertheless, the Federal Government once
more submits this Memorandum to the Council with a request that the
Kanaletal should be re-incorporated into the Austrian territory, if
necessary, after a plebiscite.20