ReMIGRA: Return Migration as an Interdisciplinary Research Area Using the Example of the South Tyrolean 'Return Option

Return migration, also termed remigration or repatriation, is still an all too frequently neglected topic within migration studies and migration history. This is also true for those South Tyrolean migrants who left their home during the "voluntary" expatriation that came to be known as the "Option" during the Second World War. In 1939, the so called "option agreement" between the two dictators, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, was announced: The German-speaking inhabitants of the South Tyrol were allowed to opt for an emigration to the German Reich and thus become German citizens or they could opt to stay in Italy and consequently accept the Italian language and culture. Until 1943, around 75.000 people left their homeland to find an uncertain future in the German Reich. Only after 1948 could those who had moved abroad apply for the reacquisition or retention of Italian citizenship and legally return to their native country. Historical research so far suggests that about one third of those who had emigrated finally returned to South Tyrol.