Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Western Europe, Volume IV

860S.00/3–2249

The United States Political Adviser at Trieste (Baldwin) to the Secretary of State

confidential

Trieste, March 22, 1949.

No. 93

Sir: With reference to this office’s telegram no. 186 of March 11, 1949¹ reporting the decision of General Airey, Commander of the British/United States Zone, Free Territory of Trieste, on the question of bilingualism in the approaching administrative elections in this Zone and my despatch no. 80 of March 9, 1949² discussing the pre-electoral situation in the Zone, I have the honor to enclose copies of a statement of the General’s views in the matter prepared by the Chief of his Planning and Advisory Staff and to report other aspects of the situation.

It will be recalled that prior to the decision reported in the telegram under reference, General Airey had decided that election documents should be issued by the communal authorities in both the Slovene and Italian languages and that he intended to make a public announcement to this effect. Certain of the local Italian political leaders, most notably Mayor Miani of Trieste, objected to this procedure and directly and through the Italian Economic Delegation here, made their views known to the General. The latter body requested that no public announcement be made of the decision until such time as Mayor Miani and others could be called to Rome and persuaded to adopt a more reasonable attitude. General Airey agreed to this request as the Mayor and the Giunta Municipale threatened to resign en masse, thus precipitating an open crisis which might have had a serious harmful effect on the Italian prospects in the elections.

The Mayor and his cohorts journeyed to Rome and met with officials of the Italian Foreign Office and others, but were still unwilling to change their views. Considering the authority which Rome exercises over local politicians through control of funds and in other manners, it may be questioned whether much pressure was put on Miani to change his views. One could easily speculate that Rome was no more anxious to take the responsibility for forcing the local officials to accept real bilingualism than those officials were to take the responsibility for bilingualism themselves.

Following the return of the Mayor to Trieste, there was a further delay pending the arrival of Dr. Castellani, Chief of the Italian Economic Delegation, with news of the attitude of the Italian Government. That was reported to General Airey who then made the decision described in the enclosure to this despatch.

Plans are now going forward to issue election documents solely in the Italian language. Simultaneously, Allied Military Government (AMG) is preparing a plan to issue necessary translations and ensure their dissemination to all who need them or claim they need them. AMG hopes that it will be possible to distribute the translations in such a thorough manner that should any charge be made in the United Nations Organization or elsewhere that the elections were unfair because of language difficulties of some of the participants, it will be in a position to refute the charges. There is little doubt that such charges will be made, but no matter how the elections are conducted, there will be criticism and accusations from the usual sources.

It is interesting to note that the same local Italian political personalities who heatedly refused to issue any documents in the hated Slovene language are most anxious to get any credit which may accrue from the issuance of the Slovene translations, possibly so that they may claim in future discussions of the question that the Italians alone were responsible for the adoption of this democratic expedient. They have proposed that the Italian Zone President, Dr. Palutan, issue the translations. This proposal has been categorically rejected by AMG. It is, of course, only fair that AMG should receive credit for fair treatment of minorities in the election as well as for virtually all the rest of the rights which have been extended to the Slovene minority in the Zone in the face of much the same type of opposition which has been put forward in this case.

There is some reason to believe that one of the tactics used by Mayor Miani and his supporters on this occasion was the clandestine release in newspaper circles, for obvious purposes, of information about the dispute which had developed on the question of bilingualism. Several of the Italian language papers reported that it was rumored that the Mayor and the Giunta would resign because of AMG’s attitude on the question and because AMG had ordered that control over certain communal houses be removed from the Giunta and given to a governmental body which, in accordance with Italian practice, would normally control them. The rumor was denied in other papers when the issue of bilingualism was no longer in doubt.

General Airey, in deciding that Italian shall be the official language for the elections, is not instituting an innovation as AMG has always held that the provisions of the Permanent Statute of the Free Territory establishing bilingualism are not in force. The issuance of the translations will be a step forward, perhaps not so far as was hoped for, but given the circumstances, in the opinion of the General as much as could be accomplished.³

Respectfully yours,

Charles F. Baldwin

[Enclosure]

The Chief of the Planning and Advisory Staff, Allied Military Government, Trieste (Parsons), to the Director General of Civil Affairs, AMG, Trieste (Gaither)⁴

confidential

[Trieste,] 11 March 1949.

AMG/FTT/PL/372.3

1. You asked for a note as to what went on between General Airey and Dr. Castellani when they discussed bilingualism on 9 March 1949.

2. Dr. Castellani said that, although the Italian Foreign Office had done their best to induce Miani and the Italian party leaders to accept AMG’s proposal that the electoral documents issued by the communes should be accompanied by Slovene translations, the latter were adamant that they would issue no document in the hated Slovene language. The Italian Government therefore asked General Airey to consider making the issue of Slovene translations an AMG responsibility, so as to avoid the risk of the mayor [and] Giunta from resigning.

3. General Airey replied that he thought it a pity that the mayor and the Italian party leaders would not adopt a more reasonable attitude and subscribe to a measure which would inevitably benefit the Italian cause as a whole. If Trieste commune had agreed to issue Slovene translations of the electoral documents, it would not only have gained credit for considering the susceptibilities of the Slovene minority, but also have taken a practical step towards ensuring that the Slovenes could not afterwards say that the elections were unfair because they could not understand the procedure.

In order however to avoid a rift which would inevitably do great harm to Italian prospects in the elections, he had decided not to interfere in the electoral procedure as it now stood, which would mean that the communes would automatically issue all the documents in Italian without the necessity of AMG issuing any further Order on the subject.

4. In its capacity as the protector of the rights of minorities in the Zone, however, AMG would take all possible steps to ensure that translations of the electoral procedure in the Slovene language were made available to all who required them. He hoped that the Italian Government and the Italian parties in Trieste would give their fullest support to AMG’s policy in this matter.

5. Dr. Castellani suggested that it might be advisable for the Zone President to be made responsible for the issue of Slovene translations so that, in spite of themselves, the Italians would gain the credit for this democratic proceeding. General Airey made no comment on this proposal and wishes to discuss its implications with his political advisers before making a decision.

6. The foregoing may be useful as a background for your talk with the Zone President and possibly the mayor of Trieste.

F. G. A. Parsons

Colonel

1. In this telegram, not printed, Judd reported that General Airey had decided that in the forthcoming administrative (i.e., local) elections, “Italian will be official language and Slovene translations relevant documents will be issued … to all who need” (860S.00/3–1149).
2. Not printed.
3. In telegram 426 of June 14, not printed, Baldwin summarized the results of the elections on June 12, mentioning that the total pro-Italian vote favoring the return of the FTT to Italy was 106,973, or 64 percent of the total vote (860S.00/6–1449).
4. Brig. Gen. Ridgely Gaither, Deputy Commander, Trieste United States Troops (TRUST), and Director General of Civil Affairs, AMG.