The Wound of the "Options": Between Identity and Propaganda

The drama of wartime emigration between 1939 and 1942 in the Mòcheni Valley

The twentieth century, a century of great transformations and profound lacerations, imposed a dramatic and painful face upon small Alpine communities: that of forced detachment from their own land.

Between 1939 and 1942, the Mòcheni Valley was involved in the complicated episode of the "Options" (Opzioni), the result of an agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The accord, sanctioned in 1939 following the alliance between the two regimes, officially aimed to "resolve" the issue of the German-speaking minorities present in Italian territories. In fact, it placed thousands of people before a heartbreaking choice: to deny their own roots or to abandon their homes forever.

A Common Destiny: Mòchenis, Cimbrians, and South Tyroleans

The phenomenon affected several territories inhabited by German-speaking populations. In South Tyrol — annexed to Italy after the First World War — the German-speaking population had already been living for years under the pressure of the Fascist regime's Italianization policy, which enforced the mandatory use of the Italian language, the changing of toponyms, and the immigration of Italian workers into the cities.

In this context, the Reich's propaganda found fertile ground: it promised a return to their own language, new lands, and a new citizenship. Faced with this scenario, approximately 80% of South Tyroleans chose to "opt" for Germany, though due to wartime circumstances, not all of them actually emigrated. A similar situation, in terms of adherence, occurred in Luserna, the small and isolated German-speaking community of the Cimbrian Alps.

The Mòcheni Valley: A Divided Community

In the Mòcheni Valley, the situation was more complex and nuanced, yet equally painful. The Mòchenis suddenly found themselves at the center of a forced choice of identity. German propaganda, which penetrated the valley through the connections that the kromeri (peddlers) had in South Tyrol, leveraged ethnic belonging and rosy economic prospects that would improve the lives of those who opted for Germany.

The responses varied from village to village: in Palù del Fersina, the movement toward the Reich was substantial. Over 300 people decided to leave their farmsteads (masi), built and inhabited for generations, to relocate to territories controlled by Germany, particularly to Bohemia, where entire areas were about to be emptied or reorganized following the expulsion of local populations. In Roveda (Frassilongo), on the other hand, the choice was predominantly to stay. In this case, the influence of the parish priest and several authoritative local figures, who urged caution, proved fundamental.

The Failure of the "Promised Land"

The promises of the Reich soon revealed themselves to be illusory. Many Mòcheni opters were transferred to distant and unstable regions such as Silesia and Bohemia, arriving there after long months of waiting in refugee camps in Germany. There, they found themselves in often difficult conditions: welcomed with suspicion, integrated into unfamiliar contexts, and scarred by the escalating violence of the war. The new lands, presented as opportunities, turned into places of precariousness and sacrifice.

With the end of the Second World War, the situation deteriorated further. The opters who wished to return to their valleys found themselves in a sort of legal vacuum: Italy now considered them foreigners, while for a devastated Germany, they represented no priority and were regarded essentially as stateless persons. Many were forced to leave their assigned lands once again, often in haste and under dramatic circumstances.

The Return and the Wounds of Memory

The return to Trentino was a true odyssey through a devastated Europe. Families took months to return to their villages of origin. But what they found was no longer the same: in many cases, families had to start from scratch, facing not only material hardships but also social tensions with those who had remained.

This episode left a deep scar on the collective memory of the communities involved. The division between "opters" (optanti) and "dableiber" (those who stayed) marked the social and cultural life of these territories for decades.

Even today, the Options of 1939 represent one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Mòcheni Valley, Luserna, and South Tyrol: a story that recounts how fragile the balance between identity, belonging, and political power can be, and how high the price of decisions imposed from above can be.

Valle dei Mòcheni

Between myth and reality

Published on 09/06/2026

A War that Divides