La solidarietà senza confini che salvò i bambini di Vienna 1919-1920

Between 1919 and 1920, a civil society-led humanitarian effort rescued approximately 200,000 malnourished children from Central Europe, particularly Vienna, by hosting them in various European countries. Italian cities like Milan, Bologna, and Reggio Emilia played a significant role through 'trains of brotherhood,' providing relief and temporary shelter to children from a former enemy state. This initiative facilitated diplomatic reconciliation between Italy and Austria, though it faced opposition from fascist groups and was closed by the Italian government in June 1920. The author draws a parallel between this historical event and contemporary Italian civil society efforts to establish humanitarian corridors for refugees from Syria and East/Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Following World War I, a large-scale humanitarian program led by civil society rather than governments rescued approximately 200,000 minors from Central Europe to combat malnutrition and disease during the winter of 1919-1920.
• Between September 1919 and April 1920, 79,793 refugee children were hosted across eight countries: Switzerland (26,973), the Netherlands (19,942), Germany (12,621), Italy (6,393), Denmark (5,490), Sweden (5,190), Norway (2,732), and Czechoslovakia (382).
• In December 1919, socialist administrators from Milan, Bologna, and Reggio Emilia organized 'trains of brotherhood' to deliver relief to Austria and bring children aged 7 to 13 to Italy for the winter.
• The humanitarian initiative helped restore bilateral relations between Italy and Austria, leading to an April 1920 agreement between Chancellor Renner and Premier Nitti, although the program was shut down in June 1920 due to government fears of 'blackshirt' violence.
• The author links the 1919-1920 experience to current Italian efforts to create humanitarian corridors for refugees from Syria and East/Sub-Saharan Africa, utilizing a previously unapplied European regulation (Article 25 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009) to grant 1,000 humanitarian visas.

APA

Albanese, R. (2016). La solidarietà senza confini che salvò i bambini di Vienna 1919-1920. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/la-solidarieta-senza-confini-che-salvo-i-bambini-di-vienna-1919-1920/

Chicago

Albanese, Roberto. La solidarietà senza confini che salvò i bambini di Vienna 1919-1920. Green European Journal, 2016. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/la-solidarieta-senza-confini-che-salvo-i-bambini-di-vienna-1919-1920/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Albanese |first1=Roberto |title=La solidarietà senza confini che salvò i bambini di Vienna 1919-1920 |publisher=Green European Journal |date=1 March 2016 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/la-solidarieta-senza-confini-che-salvo-i-bambini-di-vienna-1919-1920/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{albanese2016solidariet, author = {Albanese, Roberto}, title = {{La solidarietà senza confini che salvò i bambini di Vienna 1919-1920}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2016}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/la-solidarieta-senza-confini-che-salvo-i-bambini-di-vienna-1919-1920/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }