Franz Kafka's papers and the Bodleian Libraries

Kafka instructs Brod to burn his papers

In 1922, Franz Kafka left instructions for his friend Max Brod to burn all his papers and manuscripts after his death.

Kafka had already written a note in late 1921 expressing similar wishes.

Brod ignores Kafka's wishes

Franz Kafka dies in June 1924.

Max Brod decides to ignore Kafka’s wishes to burn the papers. 

There has been much debate on the morality of this decision. Brod himself publishes a long justification of his actions.

Some argue it was a betrayal, others that Kafka’s wishes were not as clear-cut.

Brod edits Kafka’s work for publication

Max Brod believes Kafka's unpublished works contain great treasures. He energetically starts editing these papers for publication.

During this period, Brod posthumously publishes 5 major works and collections including The Castle, The Trial and Amerika.

This huge effort cements Kafka’s reputation and legacy.

Brod flees the Nazi occupation of Prague

With the threat from Nazi Germany, Max Brod recognises the danger to any Jew remaining in Prague. 

Brod escapes on one of the last trains to leave the city before the army arrives. He carries Franz Kafka's papers with him in a suitcase.

Brod finds refuge in Tel Aviv

Max Brod escapes to safety. He crosses the Polish border before it is closed and carries on to the port of Constanza on the Black Sea.

From there, Brod – with the papers still in a suitcase – takes a liner.

After sailing across the Eastern Mediterranean, he reaches his destination in Tel Aviv.

The papers are transferred to Zurich

By 1956, Max Brod had deposited Kafka’s papers in publisher Salman Schocken’s library in Jerusalem.

Under the threat of the Suez Crisis in 1956, Schocken sends the papers to a bank vault in Zurich for safe keeping.

Malcolm Pasley brings Kafka’s papers to Oxford

​Kafka’s heirs, the children of his three sisters, discuss the future of the archive with Malcolm Pasley, a Kafka scholar in Oxford.

They agree to move the papers to the Bodleian Library.

Pasley receives the news whilst skiing in the Alps. He hurries to collect the papers from the bank in Zurich and drive them back to Oxford in his little Fiat.

The global influence of Kafka

​Now editors and translators bring Kafka's work to global audiences while his texts inspire creative transformations into art forms from architecture and film, to music and dance.

The survival of his papers – and the posthumous publishing of his works – has cemented Kafka’s legacy as a global icon.