South Tyrolese labor migration in the 1950s and 1960s

In the 1950s and 1960s, an estimated 10-15.000 German-speaking men and women left South Tyrol, mainly to take up jobs in neighbouring countries. Though mostly only intended as a temporary absence from home it turned into permanent emigration for a considerable number of them. Against the background of the political and economic development in South Tyrol, a collective biography of these emigrants is presented, focussing on gender differences. A special paragraph deals with the nexus between this postwar migration and the earlier full-scale resettlement of German-speaking South Tyroleans during WWII, an aspect so far not covered in historiography.