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{{Short description|none}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name = ''Operationszone Alpenvorland''
| conventional_long_name = Operational Zone of the<br />Alpine Foothills
| common_name = Alpine Foothills
| image_flag = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg
| flag = Flag of Germany#Nazi Germany
| image_coat = Reichsadler.svg
| coa_size = 100px
| symbol_type = Emblem
| symbol = Coat of arms of Germany#Nazi Germany
| government_type = Commissariat
| image_map = Zona_d'operazioni_delle_Prealpi.svg
| image_map_caption = The Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills ("OZAV")
| national_anthem =
| capital = [[Bolzano|Bozen]]
| stat_area1 =
| stat_year1 =
| stat_pop1 =
| p1 = Kingdom of Italy
| flag_p1 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| s1 = Kingdom of Italy
| flag_s1 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| event_start = [[Operation Achse|Establishment]]
| year_start = 1943
| event_end = [[German Instrument of Surrender|Disestablishment]]
| year_end = 1945
| title_leader = High Commissioner
| leader1 = [[Franz Hofer]]
| year_leader1 = 1943–1945
| today = [[Italy]]
| demonym =
| area_km2 =
| area_rank =
| GDP_PPP =
| GDP_PPP_year =
| HDI =
| HDI_year =
}}

The '''Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills''' ({{langx|de|Operationszone Alpenvorland}} ('''OZAV'''); {{langx|it|Zona d'operazione delle Prealpi}}) was a [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] occupation zone in the [[Alps|sub-Alpine]] area [[Italy|in Italy]] during [[World War II]].<ref>After the German surrender, [[Bozen|Bolzano]] was put under military occupation by the [[United Nations]] and given back to [[Italy]] only in 1947 when it had become a Republic.</ref>

==Origin and geography==
OZAV was established on 10 September 1943 by the occupying German [[Wehrmacht]], as a response to the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Armistice with Italy]] proclaimed two days earlier following the [[Allied invasion of Italy]]. It comprised the provinces of [[Province of Belluno|Belluno]], [[Province of Bolzano|Bolzano]] and [[Province of Trento|Trento]]. The [[Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral]], comprising the provinces of [[Udine]], [[Gorizia|Görz]], [[Trieste]], [[Pula]], [[Rijeka]], [[Kvarner Gulf]] and [[Ljubljana]], was established on the same day. Both operational zones were separate from the [[Italian Social Republic]] (RSI), based in [[Salò]] on [[Lake Garda]], which governed the remainder of Italy that had not yet been occupied by the Allies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bresadola|first=Gianmarco|date=2004|title=The Legitimising Strategies of the Nazi Administration in Northern Italy: Propaganda in the Adriatisches Küstenland|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20081231|journal=Contemporary European History|volume=13|issue=4|pages=425–451|doi=10.1017/S0960777304001882|jstor=20081231|s2cid=159821248|issn=0960-7773|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Administration==
OZAV was administered by High Commissioner [[Franz Hofer]]. The zone was administered as part of the [[Reichsgau]] of [[Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg|Tirol-Vorarlberg]].<ref name="Speer">{{cite book|last1=Speer|first1=Albert|title=Inside the Third Reich|date=1995|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London|isbn=9781842127353|pages=420}}</ref> The capital of the zone was [[Bolzano]]. Hofer wanted to amalgamate the operation zone to his Gau and thus bring forth the reunification of Tyrol and the territorial resurrection of the old Austrian crownland of Tyrol.<ref>{{cite book |author=Steininger, Rolf |title=South Tyrol: a minority conflict of the twentieth century |publisher=Transaction Publishers |location=New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A |year=2003 |page=68 |isbn=0-7658-0800-5 }}</ref> This did not take place, as Hitler wanted to show consideration for Mussolini, although the Salo government had almost zero influence in the region during German rule.<ref>Steininger 2003, p. 69</ref>

The Italian influence was resisted and dismantled by the Germans, who decreed the restoration of the provincial borders of 1919 (plus the addition of Belluno), and forced the resignation of the ethnic Italian ''[[Podestà]]'' in [[South Tyrol]] who were replaced by German-speaking mayors recruited from the local population identifying with the Third Reich.<ref name="steininger71">Steininger 2003, p. 71</ref> In September 1943, the German language was given equal status with the Italian language.<ref name="steininger71"/> German and [[Ladin language|Ladin]] names of streets and localities were displayed alongside Italian names.<ref name="steininger71"/> Fascist and Italian-language newspapers were shut down and the importing of newspapers from the RSI was banned.<ref name="steininger71"/> The Fascist party was outlawed.<ref name="steininger71"/> Laws were introduced limiting the immigration of Italians escaping military service from the RSI.<ref name="steininger71"/> However, the Italian lira remained the legal tender.<ref name="steininger71"/>

The effect of these policies was a rapid and draconian reversal of the stringent policy of Italianization which had been imposed on the region by the Italian government beginning in the early 1920s. Military units in the region came under the ''Befehlshaber Operationszone Alpenvorland'' commanded by ''General der Infanterie'' [[Joachim Witthöft]], a former divisional commander in the [[XXVII Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXVII Army Corps]] of the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]].

==Collaboration==
Primary enforcement of German regulations was performed by the ''Südtiroler Ordnungsdienst''<ref name="steininger70">Steininger 2003, p. 70</ref> (SOD, the "South Tyrol" civil police), which had been recruited from the [[South Tyrol Option Agreement|ADO]] (''Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Optanten für Deutschland'' or Association of Optants for Germany); it was mirrored in Trento (Trentino) by the ''Corpo di Sicurezza Trentino'' (CST) and in the Belluno province by the ''Corpo di Sicurezza Bellunese'' (CSB), both composed of people drafted from all male residents between the eighteen and fifty years of age. The SOD was also actively involved in the pursuit of the Jews and the well-known “''Dableiber''” (those who had chosen Italy when they were compelled to declare their allegiance), like [[Josef Mayr-Nusser]], Michael Gamper, Friedl Volgger, Rudolf Posch, and Josef Ferrari. Many of the ''Dableiber'' were current or former Catholic priests and were persecuted by the Germans.

{{Campaignbox Campaign of Germany (WW2)}}

==Deportation of Jews from the Alpine Foothills==
{{main|The Holocaust in Italy}}
On 12 September 1943, almost immediately after the start of the German occupation, [[SS and police leader]] for the Alpine Foothills [[Karl Brunner (SS general)|Karl Brunner]] issued an order that all Jews in the region were to be arrested.<ref>{{Citation |author=Sabine Mayr |contribution = The Annihilation of the Jewish Community of Meran
|editor=Georg Grote, Hannes Obermair|title=A Land on the Threshold. South Tyrolean Transformations, 1915–2015|year=2017|publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]]|location=Oxford, Bern, New York|isbn=978-3-0343-2240-9|url= https://peterlangoxford.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/a-land-on-the-threshold-published/|pages= 53–75}}</ref> Many of those from the Jewish communities in the region were deported and murdered in the [[extermination camp]]s.<ref name="Salto" >{{cite news |date=27 January 2018|title=Im Güterwagon nach Auschwitz|trans-title=In a freight car to Auschwitz|url=https://www.salto.bz/de/article/27012018/im-gueterwagon-nach-auschwitz|language=de |work=Salto news portal (South Tyrol)|access-date=20 October 2018 }}</ref><ref name="Warfarehistorynetwork" >{{cite web |first=Dennis |last=Whitehead|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/in-the-shadow-of-sunrise-the-secret-surrender-of-italy/ |title=In the Shadow of Sunrise: The Secret Surrender of Italy |date=25 August 2016 |website=warfarehistorynetwork.com |access-date=19 October 2018 }}</ref> The region was also home to the [[Bolzano Transit Camp]], which was active from summer 1944 until the end of the war and was used for the transit of Italian Jews to Auschwitz and other camps.<ref name="Deportatibolzano" >{{cite web |url=http://www.deportati.it/e_lager/english_bolzano/?lang=en/ |title=Bolzano |publisher=ANED – National Association of Italian political deportees from Nazi concentration camps |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910131709/http://www.deportati.it/e_lager/english_bolzano/?lang=en%2F |archive-date=10 September 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Gedenkortebozen" >{{cite web |url=https://www.gedenkorte-europa.eu/content/list/313/ |title=Bozen-Gries |publisher=Gedenkorte Europa 1939–1945 |access-date=10 September 2018 |language=de }}</ref>

==Atrocities==
The region was the scene of some of the last German atrocities during World War II. Towards the end of the war, South Tyrol saw the presence of over 70,000 German soldiers and members of the police, ready for a possible last defence. After the German surrender in Italy, celebrations of the Italian-speaking population broke out; which saw 11 people killed in [[Merano]] on 30 April and 41 people killed at Bolzano on 3 May 1945, when Wehrmacht and SS units fired on civilians. This and the ongoing encounters between German troops and Italian partisans has been referred to as the Battle of Bolzano ({{langx|it|Battaglia di Bolzano}}).<ref name="Bolzano" >{{cite web |url=http://www.straginazifasciste.it/?page_id=38&id_strage=4691&lang=en|title=Bolzano, 3.05.1945|publisher=Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy |access-date=20 October 2018 |language=it }}</ref> Blame for these killings has been laid on SS and police leader Karl Brunner,<ref name="Warfarehistorynetwork" /> but also on the chaotic circumstances on both the Italian and German side following the surrender.<ref name="Bolzano" />

==See also==
* [[Areas annexed by Nazi Germany]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{German administrative territories}}
{{Holocaust Italy}}

{{coord missing|Italy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills}}
[[Category:German military occupations|Alpine Foothills]]
[[Category:History of Tyrol (region)]]
[[Category:Italian Social Republic]]
[[Category:World War II occupied territories|Alpine Foothills]]
[[Category:1944 in Italy]]
[[Category:1943 establishments in Italy]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Italy]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1943]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1945]]

Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills - Revision history

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