“Anton Piccolruaz and the Ladin Question: The Dolomite Ladins as a minority within a minority between South Tyrol, Austria and Italy (1939–1980)”
Dissertation project | Duration February 2026 – January 2030
“[M]a ‘n muessa […] cialé de no revé sot a sforc fulestriers [sic!]”1 – “But we have to take care not to fall under the influence of foreign efforts.” This statement by Anton Piccolruaz can be understood as the guiding principle of this research project, as it addresses two central themes of Ladin history in the 20th century: firstly, the question of self-determination, and secondly, the sometimes competing influence of Italian and South Tyrolean interest groups.
This PhD project examines the development of the Dolomite Ladins between 1939 and the 1980s. The focus is on a minority whose five constituent valleys have been divided across three provinces and two regions since the Fascist era, namely since 1923 and 1927: Val Badia and Val Gherdëna belong to the Province of Bolzano/Bozen, Val de Fascia to the Province of Trento, and Fodom and Ampëz to the Province of Belluno. This administrative fragmentation led to unequal treatment of the Ladins within Italy after 1945 and was accompanied by long-term political and cultural negotiation processes.
The starting point for this research project is the hitherto unexplored archive of the aforementioned Anton Piccolruaz. Originally from Val Gherdëna in South Tyrol, he was a lawyer who lived in Austria after being expelled from Italy in 1940. During this time, he played an active role in promoting the interests of the Ladin people in his capacity as executive chairman of the “Bergisel-Bund Vorarlberg”, an influential Austrian association that advocated for the rights of South Tyrolians.
The documents written and collected by Piccolruaz allow us, first and foremost, to reconstruct his own activities on behalf of the Ladin minority group. These include, for example, providing financial support to students, carrying out public relations work in Austria, and drafting the „Declaration on the Ladin Question in South Tyrol” (1970). Moreover, the archive material allows the topic to be situated within the broader political and social developments of the time. In doing so, the following three central lines of discourse can be identified: firstly, the efforts to unite the Ladin valleys under the Province of Bolzano/Bozen; secondly, the struggle for independence and autonomy; and thirdly, the internal heterogeneity of the Ladin community with competing political orientations.
From a methodological perspective, the project is initially conceived as a qualitative content analysis of the sources. In addition to the Piccolruaz archive, other archival collections from Tyrol, Vorarlberg and South Tyrol will be examined. A key question here is the extent to which the Ladins received external support. The primary and secondary sources will be supplemented by life-history interviews with contemporary witnesses. The aim is to capture specific perspectives and experiences that are not well documented in the archival material. In collaboration with the computer scientist Samuel Frontull, there are also plans to use the collected interview material for training a Ladin correction and translation system. This creates mutual added value, as the data supports both the further development of the system and historical research, fostering a productive synergy between the two fields. The project is therefore also situated within the field of digital history, as it combines classical historical methods with computer-assisted methods for the analysis and processing of sources.
Overall, the work is intended as a contribution to historical research on minorities in the Alpine region. Rather than merely presenting the Dolomite Ladins as part of regional history, the project aims to depict them as an independent community of historical actors with specific spheres of action and challenges.
1 Istitut Ladin “Micurá de Rü”, archive of Anton Piccolruaz, cardboard box 5, Bergisel Bund, Akten Ladinische Bevölkerung, reference number 041, A10000, ID 10064, 1959-1964, Anton Piccolruaz, o.T., Bludenz, 7 November 1968.
Contact:
Innrain 52d, 6020 Innsbruck
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