Sesto/Sexten between tourism and war - Written in the landscape

The challenges that the soldiers had to face daily on a high mountain front like that of the Sesto/Sexten Dolomites were fiendishly difficult, especially during the cold winter months. Avalanches, frostbite, lack of supplies were normal circumstances for the soldiers located on the Three Peaks Plateau. Even in the summer months, however, the situation was not completely rosy, because the snow was replaced by bombs, rifle shots and machine guns. Sometimes the living conditions became unbearable and someone would end up disobeying the orders of superiors: in those cases, military justice intervened, often with the utmost severity. (GF)

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Sesto/Sexten became a popular and well-frequented tourist resort, gaining a certain prosperity. The Sesto/Sexten Dolomites were quite seductive, boasting an incomparable landscape and, for mountaineers, the opportunity to conquer the peaks with famous local mountain guides. From time immemorial, however, Sesto/Sexten was also a border town with the Kingdom of Italy and was therefore included in the military structures and plans for a possible war action. The barrier of Sesto/Sexten, with the fortresses of Haideck and Mitterberg, was to prevent an Italian advance and breakthrough in Val Pusteria/Pustertal. Built in the 1880s, at the outbreak of the First World War, the fortresses were by then obsolete and hardly able to withstand the fire of modern artillery. Despite this, both were still used by imperial troops, if only to confuse the enemy. Life in an area that suddenly had become the front line was not easy for the inhabitants of Sesto/Sexten. The quartering and military requisitions in Sesto/Sexten and Moso/Moos put a strain on the relationship between the population and the army.
This section intertwines the investigation of the events of Sesto/Sexten and its inhabitants during the years of the war – through the results of historical-archival research – with that of the culture of memory of the First World War in the descendants and inhabitants of Sesto/Sexten – through socio-cultural research that involved local communities in the co-production of a common heritage. (SK)

When the first Italian shells fell on the village in July 1915, it quickly became clear that the inhabitants of Sesto/Sexten were no longer safe in their homes. At the beginning of August came the order to evacuate the village with a nighttime operation conducted under fog. The men were already at war, and it was mainly women, children and the elderly who had to pack up basic necessities and flee the village. Many sought refuge with relatives and friends in nearby villages. At first, few of them thought that their stay would last long. But things changed on August 12, when Italian incendiary bombs hit the village, and several buildings, including the parish church, were destroyed by flames. Some valuables were rescued by the soldiers, but many inhabitants of Sesto/Sexten lost all their belongings. Only a few refugees managed to secure a home and a regular income during the war. Those who soon run out of cash and savings and were unable to provide for themselves and their relatives had to turn to the state authorities. The paper trail of countless requests for support for refugees made to the Austrian state helps us in present times to reconstruct the difficult fate of the poorest of the refugees in exile. Due to the fame of the tourist resort of Sesto/Sexten, especially in Viennese high society, a number of fundraising and aid drives were carried out successfully, benefiting the population of Sesto/Sexten and enabling the town to overcome at least the most difficult moments. However, many of inhabitants had a strong desire to return home as soon as possible. (SK)

The Driezinnen hut before the war. MIGR_241_697. © Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra, Rovereto.
The shot-up inn “Zur Post” in Sesto/Sexten, 1915-1918. AT-OeStA/KA BS I WK Fronten Tirol, 1104. © Österreichisches Staatsarchiv – Kriegsarchiv, Wien.
The Zur Post inn after reconstruction. MCRR Album T(42). Courtesy of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento in Rome. © MCRR.

The guiding system in Sesto/Sexten and Moos/Moso with associated mountain guide tariff, 1904. Hans Biendl, Das Sextental und seine Berge, 1904
The guiding system in Sesto/Sexten and Moos/Moso with associated mountain guide tariff, 1904. Hans Biendl, Das Sextental und seine Berge, 1904

Advertisements for inns and vacation accommodations in Sesto/Sexten and Moos/Moso, 1904. Hans Biendl, Das Sextental und seine Berge, 1904.
Advertisements for inns and vacation accommodations in Sesto/Sexten and Moos/Moso, 1904. Hans Biendl, Das Sextental und seine Berge, 1904.

Excerpt from a newspaper article by Emanuel Singer from Vienna. March 4, 1916, published in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Transcription: “When I read Stemberger’s letter, a letter that I recommend to all friends of the Dolomites, I vividly remembered all the pleasures that a trip to the Sexten Valley brought to the tourist. Arrival in Innichen [San Candido]. At the train station, the coaches were ready to take the guests to the Sexten and Fischlein valleys, and the most sought-after of the vehicles was that of ‘Poscht’ Toni, who knows best how to woo the passengers. Toni is an original character who always has a crude joke on his lips and never tires of shortening the time for his friends – every stranger is soon his friend – with his lively chatter. Among the great crowd of his old and new friends, he immediately knows how to distinguish the real tourists from those who, as he says, only carry a mountain stick with a safety rope, in order to drink a good drop somewhere, eat a solid meal and later tell that they have been up God knows where. He certainly goes only to the Kruspelspitz and not to the Schusterspitz [Torre dei Tre Scarperi]. To the first one it’s easy, to the second one the way is difficult! Then he continues to rage against the valley tourists who undertake their trips only to get to the mountains where ‘freedom lives’. What about freedom then, when you climb the small pinnacle, are roped up, are not allowed to cuddle (talk) and have to parry, because otherwise the guide will leave you standing? So he sputters out one joke after the other in his derbomic way, and you are on the spot before you know it. The mountain guides are already standing there, true giant figures, whose skin has been tanned by wind, weather and sun, and who know the wonderful world up in the mountains as well as the Viennese know the way to the Prater. There they were, Sepp Innerkofler, the unforgettable king among the Dolomite guides, then the other members of his family, Veith, Michael, Christian and Johann Innerkofler, then Anton and Naz Schranzhofer, Forcher and all of them. […] Magnificent people without fault and blame I then met, as I said, in Sexten [Sesto], in the famous Poschthotel of our postmaster Karl Stemberger, who ruled and ruled there with his good wife, five sons and three daughters. His hotel could literally be called a recreation home for everyone. Because his guests forgot everything that was bothering them there, except one thing: coming back. How many regular guests the Stembergerhausheim had! Tourists from all over the world met there again every year. No real Dolomite climber failed to make a detour to Sexten [Sesto], and a handsome colony of painters, among them many from Munich, came every season to capture the beauties of nature with more or less good taste and skill. How often I saw the artists sitting on the street under their umbrellas in the midst of the gawking local youth, struggling to transfer the colorful splendor of the area onto their canvas! One could read the well-being and the joy of the stay from the face of Stemberger’s guests. None of them had a wish that was not immediately fulfilled, for each of them the host family had a kind word, good advice, a nice game in store. With what loving care the tourist was equipped before the ascent to the Zinnenhaus, to the Elfer- or Zwölferkogel or to the Einser, after the guide had been provided and the lodging in the shelters had been secured. Then the guests were still specially recommended, and the brave Philomena Lugger in the Zsigmondyhütte and Innerkofler in the Zinnenhütte knew exactly how a recommendation from Stemberger was to be valued. What the Stemberger family told their guests about the mountains and parts were travel descriptions that deserved to be included in the Tyrolean Baedeker. […]”. WT, 4.3.1916.
Excerpt from a newspaper article by Emanuel Singer from Vienna. March 4, 1916, published in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Transcription: “When I read Stemberger’s letter, a letter that I recommend to all friends of the Dolomites, I vividly remembered all the pleasures that a trip to the Sexten Valley brought to the tourist. Arrival in Innichen [San Candido]. At the train station, the coaches were ready to take the guests to the Sexten and Fischlein valleys, and the most sought-after of the vehicles was that of ‘Poscht’ Toni, who knows best how to woo the passengers. Toni is an original character who always has a crude joke on his lips and never tires of shortening the time for his friends – every stranger is soon his friend – with his lively chatter. Among the great crowd of his old and new friends, he immediately knows how to distinguish the real tourists from those who, as he says, only carry a mountain stick with a safety rope, in order to drink a good drop somewhere, eat a solid meal and later tell that they have been up God knows where. He certainly goes only to the Kruspelspitz and not to the Schusterspitz [Torre dei Tre Scarperi]. To the first one it’s easy, to the second one the way is difficult! Then he continues to rage against the valley tourists who undertake their trips only to get to the mountains where ‘freedom lives’. What about freedom then, when you climb the small pinnacle, are roped up, are not allowed to cuddle (talk) and have to parry, because otherwise the guide will leave you standing? So he sputters out one joke after the other in his derbomic way, and you are on the spot before you know it. The mountain guides are already standing there, true giant figures, whose skin has been tanned by wind, weather and sun, and who know the wonderful world up in the mountains as well as the Viennese know the way to the Prater. There they were, Sepp Innerkofler, the unforgettable king among the Dolomite guides, then the other members of his family, Veith, Michael, Christian and Johann Innerkofler, then Anton and Naz Schranzhofer, Forcher and all of them. […] Magnificent people without fault and blame I then met, as I said, in Sexten [Sesto], in the famous Poschthotel of our postmaster Karl Stemberger, who ruled and ruled there with his good wife, five sons and three daughters. His hotel could literally be called a recreation home for everyone. Because his guests forgot everything that was bothering them there, except one thing: coming back. How many regular guests the Stembergerhausheim had! Tourists from all over the world met there again every year. No real Dolomite climber failed to make a detour to Sexten [Sesto], and a handsome colony of painters, among them many from Munich, came every season to capture the beauties of nature with more or less good taste and skill. How often I saw the artists sitting on the street under their umbrellas in the midst of the gawking local youth, struggling to transfer the colorful splendor of the area onto their canvas! One could read the well-being and the joy of the stay from the face of Stemberger’s guests. None of them had a wish that was not immediately fulfilled, for each of them the host family had a kind word, good advice, a nice game in store. With what loving care the tourist was equipped before the ascent to the Zinnenhaus, to the Elfer- or Zwölferkogel or to the Einser, after the guide had been provided and the lodging in the shelters had been secured. Then the guests were still specially recommended, and the brave Philomena Lugger in the Zsigmondyhütte and Innerkofler in the Zinnenhütte knew exactly how a recommendation from Stemberger was to be valued. What the Stemberger family told their guests about the mountains and parts were travel descriptions that deserved to be included in the Tyrolean Baedeker. […]”. WT, 4.3.1916.

Article about two female tourists who undertook a mountain tour in the Three Peaks area in 1919 and came across all kinds of war traces, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, October 13, 1919. NWT, 13.10.1919.
Article about two female tourists who undertook a mountain tour in the Three Peaks area in 1919 and came across all kinds of war traces, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, October 13, 1919. NWT, 13.10.1919.
Article about two female tourists who undertook a mountain tour in the Three Peaks area in 1919 and came across all kinds of war traces, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, October 13, 1919. NWT, 13.10.1919.

With the first openings of the Sesto/Sexten Dolomites to mountaineers, in the second half of the nineteenth century, Sesto/Sexten became a well-frequented tourist destination, attracting numerous mountain enthusiasts from near and far. In 1904, the Sexten Beautification Association even published a small travel brochure, which was to serve as a guide for tourists in Sesto/Sexten. The introduction reads: “The number of connoisseurs and amateurs of the unusual and easily accessible beauty of the Sesto/Sexten mountains is constantly increasing, as well as the number of nature lovers who turn their steps towards the magnificent Sesto/Sexten valley and its mountains – both with the aim of a beautiful hike through them, and of a longer summer break amid their charming atmospheres”.1Biendl, Das Sextental und seine Berge, p. 5.
To climb the most beautiful and highest peaks, mountaineers and mountain lovers of Sesto/Sexten sought the help of mountain guides, some of whom, like Sepp Innerkofler, also became pioneers of tourism as hoteliers. The wealthy Viennese, in particular, held Sesto/Sexten in high regard as a destination for their summer holidays. The destruction of the village inspired all kinds of memories about the village and its people. Emanuel von Singer, for example, wrote in the “Neues Wiener Tagblatt”: “Sesto/Sexten destroyed! The sad news is already a few months old, but it still awakens in the hearts of all the friends of the Dolomites a painful regret and a sincere sadness at the memory of the pleasant hours spent in this unforgettably beautiful corner of land. As a regular guest of the ‘Poschthotel’ in Sesto/Sexten, the news of the bombing of the idyllic mountain village had completely shocked me for a few days, and a letter that my old friend, the postmaster and hotelier of Sesto/Sexten, Mr. Stemberger, addressed to me in these days brought tears to my eyes.”2Singer, Das Posthotel in Sexten.
This emotional attachment to the holiday resort and the numerous acquaintances and personal friendships helped the refugees of Sesto/Sexten organize various fundraising and charity drives in support of the poorest and the planned reconstruction of the village. In the “Touristic Information” of Vienna’s newspapers, the Viennese were regularly informed about the progress of the reconstruction projects of the village and the huts.
The hope of a quick return to the summer resort in the Sesto/Sexten Dolomites after the departure of the Italian troops was abruptly dispelled, however, since Tyrol was closed to tourism from Vienna due to food shortages. Some Viennese were very sorry for this and also saw their charitable work as conditional: “Why can the inhabitants of Linz or Innsbruck go on summer holidays without obstacles, but not the Viennese?… The golden heart of the Viennese should also appeal to the common sense of others, for once! Or it’s nice when donations and collections are made in Vienna for Sesto/Sexten, but at the same time the Tyroleans slam the door in Vienna’s face! The ever-open hand of the Viennese city could even close for once.”3J.W., Sommerfrischler in Not!
However, as soon as the military withdrew from the area, the magnificent mountain scenery returned to attracting adventurous tourists eager to travel. In 1919, two young women from Salzburg embarked on a tour of the Three Peaks plateau and walked the old front. One of the young women reported some impressions of this hike: “On the trail there were bullet shells and gas bombs everywhere, and the steel shimmered. We had to be careful and not deviate from the path, because the danger of mines was everywhere.”4Singer, Feuilleton. Friede in den Bergen.
After the war, tourists shifted away from the area for a time due to the destruction and annexation of Sesto/Sexten to Italy. Only after 1925 was there a gradual return of larger flows of visitors.

(SK)

Holzer, Rudolf (2002). Sexten. Vom Bergbauerndorf zur Tourismusgemeinde. Sesto/Sexten: Tappeiner Verlag.

Biendl, Hans (1904). Das Sextental und seine Berge, herausgegeben vom Verschönerungsverein in Sexten. Wien: Verschönerungsverein in Sexten.

Singer, Emanuel von (1916). Das Posthotel in Sexten, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 4. März.

J. W. (1918). Sommerfrischler in Not!, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 6. Mai.

Singer, Emanuel von (1919). Feuilleton. Friede in den Bergen, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 13. Oktober.

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