Ottla Kafka

She was murdered in the Holocaust.

• Illustration — Hermann and Julie Kafka Ottilie, called Ottla by her family, was born in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, into a middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish family. Her father was the businessman Hermann Kafka (1852–1931), her mother, Julie (1856–1934), was the daughter of Jakob Löwy, a brewer in Poděbrady. She had three siblings, Franz, Gabriele ("Elli") (1889–1942) and Valerie ("Valli") (1890–1942). She was Franz's favourite sister. She was a close confidant (enge Vertraute), and he called her unbeschadet der Liebe zu den anderen, die bei weitem liebste (the love to the others notwithstanding, the dearest by far). He helped her get an education at an agricultural school. She lived and worked at the agricultural estate of her brother-in-law, Karl Hermann, in West Bohemian Zürau (now Siřem, community Blšany). In 1916–17, she provided her brother with a writing refuge where he was able to write many short stories, and he also lived on Hermann's estate from September 1917 to April 1918, already suffering from tuberculosis. During this time he wrote Die Zürauer Aphorismen (The Zürau Aphorisms). In July 1920, Ottla married the Czech Catholic Joseph David, against her father's will. Their daughters Věra (nicknamed Valli) and Helene (nicknamed Elli) were born in 1921 and 1923. Franz Kafka watched them grow up until he died in June 1924. The marriage was not happy and they were divorced in August 1942. Ottla thus lost her protection against the persecution of Jews. Like many other Jews from Prague, Ottla and her sisters were deported during World War II by the Nazis. Elli and Valli were sent with their families to the Łódź Ghetto, and then to Chelmno where they were murdered. Ottla was sent to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt. On 5 October 1943, Ottla accompanied a group of children as a voluntary assistant. When the transport reached Auschwitz concentration camp two days later, all were murdered in the gas chambers.