Emilio Salgari Among Authors Banned in Nazi Book Burnings

On the night of May 10, 1933, in Berlin's Opernplatz (now Bebelplatz), Nazi authorities burned approximately 25,000 books deemed antithetical to the regime. The list of targeted authors included Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, Bertolt Brecht, Arthur Schnitzler, Stefan Zweig, and Marcel Proust. Among the Italian writers were Emilio Salgari, creator of Sandokan and the Black Corsair, alongside Ignazio Silone and Giuseppe Antonio Borgese. Salgari, born in Verona on August 21, 1862, and died in Turin on April 25, 1911, was a prolific adventure novelist. The episode is recounted in Fabio Stassi's 2024 book "Bebelplatz. La notte dei libri bruciati" (Sellerio).