Ferramonti di Tarsia, il lager dei bibliofili (Bernhard, Brenner, Kalk e Prager)

In this paper, the Author illustrates a little known event in history of book and in history of deportation in Italy. The concentration camp of Ferramonti (near Cosenza) was, in fact, a place of shared imprisonment for at least three very special cultural figures, known and less known, more or less related to the history of the book; three men of which the Author draws the short story that led them first in the camp, then to emerge again in a unique way: Ernst Bernhard, Gustav Brenner and Werner Prager. Also can be added the figure of Israel Kalk, who crossed the threshold of the field, although not as a prisoner. Briefly, Gustav Brenner will not be enough recognized as a genuine pioneer of the facsimile edition in Italy (long before Arnaldo Forni) and he will remain prominent editor in the history and traditions of Southern Italy; Werner Prager helped, with its activities of antiquarian bookseller, to recover the lost library of Theodor Mommsen; Ernst Bernhard will write his own memories during Ferramonti imprisonment, which will lay the foundation of his subsequent career as a famous psychoanalyst and writer; finally, Israel Kalk will provide a library for the camp, drawing from his own one, also rich in ancient Jewish and valuable books.