Engagement to Felice Bauer in Berlin; the betrothal is called off on July 12, 1914, after an argument at the Askanischer Hof Hotel.
1 June 1914
Kafka begins his correspondence with Milena Jesenská, a Czech journalist living in Vienna. This soon develops into a love affair.
Around 8 April 1920
Kafka dies in Kierling, cared for to the last by his lover Dora Diamant and his friend, medical student Robert Klopstock. His body is taken back to Prague by train. Kafka’s funeral is held on 11 June at the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague and is attended by his friends and family, as well as by many members of the literary scene, both German and Czech.
3 June 1924
Following a stay in the Wienerwald Sanatorium in Lower Austria and an experimental treatment at the Laryngological Clinic run by Professor Dr Markus Hajek in Vienna, Kafka is admitted to Dr Hoffmann’s private sanatorium in Kierling near Klosterneuburg. He can soon hardly swallow and is now only able to communicate by writing notes on slips of paper.
19 April 1924
The tuberculosis has reached his larynx; in his winter clothes, Kafka weighs only 49 kilograms.
April 1924
As his health has clearly worsened, Kafka returns to Prague where he stays with his parents in the Oppelt House for several weeks.
17 March 1924
Kafka leaves Prague to move into a flat in Berlin with Dora Diamant.
24 September 1923
Kafka is seriously ill. He travels to the Baltic seaside resort of Müritz, where he meets Dora Diamant, a girl from an Eastern European Jewish family.
July 1923
As there is no hope of recovery in the near future, Kafka is granted early retirement.
1 July 1922
Kafka begins work on his last novel The Castle. He puts it aside at the end of August. The unfinished work will be first published posthumously by Max Brod.
Late January 1922
Kafka writes his hundred-plus-page Letter to Father in Schelesen.
November 1919
First meeting with Julie Wohryzek during a holiday in Schelesen.
22 January 1919
October 1918
Kafka falls seriously ill with the Spanish flu.
Kafka has been given leave from work and travels to Zürau [Siřem], where his sister Ottla is running her brother-in-law Karl Hermann’s farm, for a rest cure.
September 1917
30 July 1908
Kafka is employed as a junior civil servant in the semi-governmental Workers’ Accident Insurance Company for the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague. Over the course of his career, he will reach the position of chief legal secretary.
Kafka suffers a haemorrhage during the night. On 3 September, he consults a doctor who diagnoses pulmonary apicitis.
12/13 August 1917
Second engagement to Felice Bauer in Prague. It is called off again on December 25 of the same year.
Early July 1917
Kafka uses the little house his sister Ottla rents on Golden Lane in the Prague Castle complex as a place in which to write. Some of the stories in the collection A Country Doctor, published by Kurt Wolff in early May 1920, are among the texts penned here.
From November 1916
Kafka starts to write The Trial. In January 1915, he stops work on the unfinished novel.
August 1914
Engagement to Felice Bauer in Berlin; the betrothal is called off on July 12, 1914, after an argument at the Askanischer Hof Hotel.
1 June 1914
17 November to 6 December 1912
The story The Metamorphosis is penned in the House At the Ship.
Kafka writes the story The Judgment in a single night.
22/23 September 1912
Kafka meets Felice Bauer, who works for a sales company in Berlin, at Max Brod’s parents’ flat. On 20 September, he writes his first letter to her.
13 August 1912
The Prague Asbestos Works Hermann & Co. is officially founded; Kafka is made a silent partner in the company, thanks to an investment from his father.
1 January 1912
Kafka writes the first draft of Der Verschollene [The Man Who Disappeared], the novel later published under the title Amerika.
Winter 1911/12
Kafka begins a year-long court internship, starting at the National Civil Court on the Obstmarkt [Fruit Market, Ovocný Trh], followed by six months at the criminal court on the Karlsplatz [Charles Square, Karlovo náměstí].
October 1906
Eight prose texts are first published in Hyperion magazine.
March 1908
Kafka is taken on as an assistant at the Assicurazioni Generali private insurance company on Wenceslas Square.
1 October 1907
Kafka graduates as a Doctor of Law from the Karl-Ferdinand University.
18 June 1906
Kafka first meets Max Brod; beginning of their life-long friendship.
23 October 1902
Kafka begins his studies at the Imperial and Royal German Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague (two weeks of chemistry, followed by lectures in law, history of art, philosophy, and German studies; as of the winter semester of 1902–03, he finally settles on law).
1 October 1901
May and July 1901
Written and oral final exams for the Matura (school leaving certificate) at the Imperial and Royal State German-Language Grammar School.
13 June 1896
Bar-Mizwah.
Kafka attends the Imperial and Royal State German-Language Grammar School in the Kinsky Palace on the Old Town Square.
September 1893 to July 1901
Kafka attends the Imperial and Royal German Primary School for Boys at the Fleischmarkt [Meat Market, Masná].
September 1889 to Summer 1893
Franz Kafka is born in Prague, the first child of businessman Hermann Kafka and his wife Julie, née Löwy. The Kafkas’ two other sons will die in infancy. Franz soon gains three sisters, born in quick succession: Gabriele (Elli), Valerie (Valli), and Ottilie (Ottla).
3 July 1883
3 July 1883
Franz Kafka is born in Prague, the first child of businessman Hermann Kafka and his wife Julie, née Löwy. The Kafkas’ two other sons will die in infancy. Franz soon gains three sisters, born in quick succession: Gabriele (Elli), Valerie (Valli), and Ottilie (Ottla).
September 1893 to July 1901
Kafka attends the Imperial and Royal State German-Language Grammar School in the Kinsky Palace on the Old Town Square.
May and July 1901
Written and oral final exams for the Matura (school leaving certificate) at the Imperial and Royal State German-Language Grammar School.
23 October 1902
Kafka first meets Max Brod; beginning of their life-long friendship.
October 1906
Kafka begins a year-long court internship, starting at the National Civil Court on the Obstmarkt [Fruit Market, Ovocný Trh], followed by six months at the criminal court on the Karlsplatz [Charles Square, Karlovo náměstí].
March 1908
Eight prose texts are first published in Hyperion magazine.
Winter 1911/12
Kafka writes the first draft of Der Verschollene [The Man Who Disappeared], the novel later published under the title Amerika.
13 August 1912
Kafka meets Felice Bauer, who works for a sales company in Berlin, at Max Brod’s parents’ flat. On 20 September, he writes his first letter to her.
17 November to 6 December 1912
The story The Metamorphosis is penned in the House At the Ship.
1 June 1914
Engagement to Felice Bauer in Berlin; the betrothal is called off on July 12, 1914, after an argument at the Askanischer Hof Hotel.
From November 1916
Kafka uses the little house his sister Ottla rents on Golden Lane in the Prague Castle complex as a place in which to write. Some of the stories in the collection A Country Doctor, published by Kurt Wolff in early May 1920, are among the texts penned here.
12/13 August 1917
Kafka suffers a haemorrhage during the night. On 3 September, he consults a doctor who diagnoses pulmonary apicitis.
October 1918
Kafka falls seriously ill with the Spanish flu.
November 1919
Kafka writes his hundred-plus-page Letter to Father in Schelesen.
Late January 1922
Kafka begins work on his last novel The Castle. He puts it aside at the end of August. The unfinished work will be first published posthumously by Max Brod.
July 1923
Kafka is seriously ill. He travels to the Baltic seaside resort of Müritz, where he meets Dora Diamant, a girl from an Eastern European Jewish family.
17 March 1924
As his health has clearly worsened, Kafka returns to Prague where he stays with his parents in the Oppelt House for several weeks.
19 April 1924
Following a stay in the Wienerwald Sanatorium in Lower Austria and an experimental treatment at the Laryngological Clinic run by Professor Dr Markus Hajek in Vienna, Kafka is admitted to Dr Hoffmann’s private sanatorium in Kierling near Klosterneuburg. He can soon hardly swallow and is now only able to communicate by writing notes on slips of paper.
September 1889 to Summer 1893
Kafka attends the Imperial and Royal German Primary School for Boys at the Fleischmarkt [Meat Market, Masná].
13 June 1896
Bar-Mizwah.
1 October 1901
Kafka begins his studies at the Imperial and Royal German Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague (two weeks of chemistry, followed by lectures in law, history of art, philosophy, and German studies; as of the winter semester of 1902–03, he finally settles on law).
18 June 1906
Kafka graduates as a Doctor of Law from the Karl-Ferdinand University.
1 October 1907
Kafka is taken on as an assistant at the Assicurazioni Generali private insurance company on Wenceslas Square.
30 July 1908
Kafka is employed as a junior civil servant in the semi-governmental Workers’ Accident Insurance Company for the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague. Over the course of his career, he will reach the position of chief legal secretary.
1 January 1912
The Prague Asbestos Works Hermann & Co. is officially founded; Kafka is made a silent partner in the company, thanks to an investment from his father.
22/23 September 1912
Kafka writes the story The Judgment in a single night.
December 1912
Rowohlt-Verlag in Leipzig publishes Kafka’s first book, a collection of short prose pieces entitled Meditation.
August 1914
Kafka starts to write The Trial. In January 1915, he stops work on the unfinished novel.
Early July 1917
Second engagement to Felice Bauer in Prague. It is called off again on December 25 of the same year.
September 1917
Kafka has been given leave from work and travels to Zürau [Siřem], where his sister Ottla is running her brother-in-law Karl Hermann’s farm, for a rest cure.
22 January 1919
First meeting with Julie Wohryzek during a holiday in Schelesen.
Around 8 April 1920
Kafka begins his correspondence with Milena Jesenská, a Czech journalist living in Vienna. This soon develops into a love affair.
1 July 1922
As there is no hope of recovery in the near future, Kafka is granted early retirement.
24 September 1923
Kafka leaves Prague to move into a flat in Berlin with Dora Diamant.
April 1924
The tuberculosis has reached his larynx; in his winter clothes, Kafka weighs only 49 kilograms.
3 June 1924
Kafka dies in Kierling, cared for to the last by his lover Dora Diamant and his friend, medical student Robert Klopstock. His body is taken back to Prague by train. Kafka’s funeral is held on 11 June at the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague and is attended by his friends and family, as well as by many members of the literary scene, both German and Czech.