Unraveling a Nazi Mystery: Are Franz Kafka’s Missing Love Letters in Berlin?
The Nazis confiscated Franz Kafka’s love letters to Dora Diamant, and one woman has made the search for them—and other missing documents—a full-time job, and passion.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Sarah Rogers
On June 3, 1924, Franz Kafka died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Austria. He was only 41 years old and was just getting started with his writing career.
But his death was made all the more tragic by love—Kafka’s last moments were spent in the arms of Dora Diamant, the love of his life whom he had only met 11 months earlier.
Dora would cherish the memory of Kafka for the rest of her life—so much so that she named her only daughter after her former lover ten years after his death. She kept a piece of him in the 35 letters he had written to her during the rare times they were apart, as well as 20 notebooks that were left in her possession.