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Stefan Litt from the National Library of Israel talks to our host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson about the adventurous travels of Franz Kafka’s manuscripts after his death. It was Kafka’s friend Max Brod who played the crucial role in salvaging them. First he saved them from Kafka’s last wish and did not burn them. Later he rescued them from the turmoil of World War Two: when he had to flee Prague in 1939 to escape the Nazis, he had a suitcase full of Kafka in tow. It was difficult to find a safe place to store the papers after that. In the end there followed decades of court cases on the grounds of illegal gifts and auctions at Sotheby’s. A crime thriller with … watch out for the spoiler … a happy ending.
By Goethe-InstitutStefan Litt from the National Library of Israel talks to our host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson about the adventurous travels of Franz Kafka’s manuscripts after his death. It was Kafka’s friend Max Brod who played the crucial role in salvaging them. First he saved them from Kafka’s last wish and did not burn them. Later he rescued them from the turmoil of World War Two: when he had to flee Prague in 1939 to escape the Nazis, he had a suitcase full of Kafka in tow. It was difficult to find a safe place to store the papers after that. In the end there followed decades of court cases on the grounds of illegal gifts and auctions at Sotheby’s. A crime thriller with … watch out for the spoiler … a happy ending.