Kafka, There and Back Again

Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883 in Prague, Czech Republic. His family was middle class, spoke german, and was Jewish. Kafka had three younger sisters and two younger brothers who died in their infant years. Kafka learned German as his first language, but eventually also became relatively fluent in Czech.

Kafka went on to go to the Charles University of Prague, where he started studying chemistry but two weeks later switched to law. After the first year, he met Max Brod and Felix Weltsch, who became two of his closest friends. Kafka later graduated from the university and got his Doctorate on June 18, 1907.