In 1917, Kafka began to suffer from tuberculosis, which would require frequent convalescence during which he was supported by his family, most notably his sister Ottla. On 15 July 1908, he resigned, and two weeks later found more congenial employment with the Worker’s Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. On 1 November 1907, he was hired at the Assicurazioni Generali, a large Italian insurance company, where he worked for nearly a year.

After his Bar Mitzvah, Kafka loathed having to go to the synagogue with his father and limited his attendance to four times a year at Jewish holidays. Kafka’s education was limited to the period up to his Bar Mitzvah celebration at thirteen. This was an academic secondary school with eight grade levels, where German was also the language of instruction. From 1889 to 1893, he attended the Deutsche Knabenschule, the boys’ elementary school in the Masný Street.Īfter elementary school, he was admitted to the rigorous classics-oriented state gymnasium, Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium at Old Town Square, within the Kinsky Palace. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture and one of his favorite authors was Flaubert. Kafka’s first language was German, but he was also fluent in Czech. His mother helped to manage her husband’s business and worked in it as many as 12 hours a day.

On business days, both parents were absent from the home. He had three younger sisters and two younger brothers, Georg and Heinrich, who died at the ages of fifteen months and six months, respectively, before Franz was seven. Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883 in Prague, the eldest of six children.

Kafka 1927