Kafka’s Birthplace

The house where Franz Kafka was born, formerly the prelature of St Nicholas’ Abbey (circa 1898).

Franz Kafka’s birthplace was a simple, two-storey building on the north-west side of the Old Town Square, at the edge of what was then still the Prague ghetto. Franz Kafka was born here on 3 July 1883, the first of the young Hermann and Julie Kafka’s six children. Not long after his birth, the baby boy was circumcised on 10 July by Dr Moritz Weisl, in keeping with ritual law.

The building was damaged by fire and demolished in 1897. All that remained of Kafka’s birthplace was the front doorway, surmounted by a balcony parapet, which was incorporated into the Neo-Baroque replacement. A bronze memorial bust by Czech sculptor Karel Hladík was put up in 1965, after the communist leadership lifted its ban on Kafka, ahead of the Prague Spring.

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

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