Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement

The Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement signed by the foreign minister of Austria, Karl Gruber and the prime minister of Italy, Alcide De Gasperi in September 5, 1946 was a bilateral treaty between Italy and Austria, recognized by international law, which granted the German-speaking population of the Province of Alto Adige/Südtirol the right to autonomy and to preserve their cultural identity and customs. It also recognized German as an official language in equivalence with Italian, in the local area. Furthermore, people were granted the right to reassume their original German personal and family names, which many had abandoned during the rule of the fascist regime, which put forward an oppressive assimilation programme.