The “Night of Flames”
In the night of June 11 / morning of June 12, 1961, about 37 power poles were blown up; further power poles were also blown up in the following nights. The “Night of Flames” was the largest concerted action by the BAS in which most of the BAS members in South Tyrol and many BAS members from northern Tyrol participated.
Italy reacted with another massive increase in the strength of its security forces in South Tyrol, and with extensive arrests of BAS members – who were also tortured in order to force them to identify further activists. Both police forces and the Carabinieri had already been beefed up in the autumn of 1956 after the so-called “Stieler Group” led by Hans Stieler conducted minor attacks against barracks and the Brenner cableway. In January of 1957, the group was arrested. The increasing resistance of the German-speaking populace against the renewed attempts to “Italianize” the inhabitants – which first culminated in the holding of the provincial gathering in Sigmundskron on November 17, 1957 – likewise led to a massive increase in the number of Italian “security forces” stationed there.
Although the explosions carried out during the “Night of Flames” did not result in any injury to persons, the street maintenance worker Giovanni Postal in Salurn died while trying to remove an explosive charge which had not detonated.
More information about the various attacks carried out in South Tyrol:
- Otto Scrinzi (publ.), Chronik Südtirol 1959–1969. Von der Kolonie Alto Adige zur Autonomen Provinz Bozen. Graz-Stuttgart 1996. [A Chronicle of South Tyrol, 1959-1969. From the Colony of Alto Adige to the Autonomous Province of Bozen. Graz-Stuttgart, 1996.]
