The Birthplace
Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883, the eldest of the six children of the dry-goods merchant Hermann Kafka and his wife Julie. A week after the birth, on 10th July, Franz was ritually circumcised in his parents’ modest apartment. The house on the north-east side of the Old Town Square (number 24) where Kafka was born lay on the edge of the Prague Ghetto, then still in existence, close to the baroque St Nicholas Church. However, the Kafka family only lived in this baroque building until May 1885. The house was demolished in 1897 and succeeded by a neo-baroque building on the same site. Only the doorway of the original house was retained. A commemorative bust modelled by Karel Hladík was mounted on the outside of the building in 1965.
Hesitation before the birth. If transmigration of souls exists, then I am on the lowest rung. My life is the hesitation before birth.
Franz Kafka, Diaries
In German, the word sein means both “to be” and “his”.
Franz Kafka, Aphorisms
