Franz Kafka

he writer Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883, in Prague. He had a significant influence on 20th-century literature with his often absurd, enigmatic, and eerie stories. Today, this style is referred to as Kafkaesque.

Kafka grew up in a business-oriented family; his father owned a haberdashery shop. After studying law, he began a career as a civil servant and wrote only in his spare time. He was inspired by his visits to the theater, cabaret, and cinema, by his travels, and by his fascination with the technical innovations of the time.

In 1912, Kafka published his first book and wrote “The Judgment.” He also met Felice Bauer, to whom he was briefly engaged and whose failed relationship inspired him to write his most famous work, “The Trial.” His experiences during World War I, in which he was not drafted, also influenced this work.

Between 1915 and 1923, he published his stories “The Metamorphosis” and “Before the Law,” wrote the autobiographical work “Letter to His Father,” the novel “The Castle,” and the story “A Hunger Artist.”

On September 24, 1923, Franz Kafka finally moved to Berlin. Months earlier, he had fallen in love with Dora Diamant, an aspiring Jewish actress from Poland who worked at the “Jüdisches Volksheim” (Jewish People’s Home) in Berlin’s Scheunenviertel. The two moved into an apartment together in Steglitz and studied at the College of Jewish Studies (the building is now the Leo Baeck House at Tucholskystraße 9). At that time, Kafka was seriously ill with tuberculosis and could only leave the apartment on good days. Nevertheless, he attended courses in Hebrew language and Jewish history.

Franz Kafka died on June 3, 1924. In his will, he stipulated that all his writings should be destroyed, but his friend Max Brod continued to publish his works. During the Nazi era, his books were burned, and his three sisters were murdered in concentration camps.

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