Ottla Kafka

Ottilie "Ottla" Kafka (29 October 1892 – 7 October 1943) was the youngest sister of Franz Kafka. His favourite sister, she was probably also the relative closest to him and supported him in difficult times. Their correspondence was published as Letters to Ottla. She was murdered in the Holocaust.

Life

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). 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.

Legacy

The correspondence between Franz and Ottla Kafka is preserved. It was first published in 1974 by Hartmut Binder and Klaus Wagenbach, and published in English as Letters to Ottla & the Family. In January 2011 it was announced that the original letters were to be sold as a bundle at a Berlin auction house.