Gabriele Kafka: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Eldest sister of the writer Franz Kafka}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{Notability|Biography|date=April 2024}}

{{More citations needed|date=April 2024}}

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[[File:Gabriela Hermannova Elli Kafkova 1889 1942 Photo 1939.jpg|thumb|Gabriele „Elli“ Hermannová, 1939]]'''Gabriele "Elli" Kafka''', married Gabriele Hermannová (September 22, 1889 – fall of 1942) was the eldest sister of the writer [[Franz Kafka]].

== Life ==

Gabriele was born on September 22, 1889, in Prague into the family of Hermann Kafka (1852–1931) and Julie, née Löwa (1855–1934). She had three siblings: Franz, [[Valli Kafka|Valli]] and [[Ottla Kafka|Ottla]]. She attended a German girls' school in Prague's Řeznická Street and later a private girls' secondary school (a private educational institute for girls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Franz Kafka |url=https://www.franzkafka.de/leben/familie/gabrielekafka |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=Franz Kafka}}</ref>

On November 27, 1910, she married the sales representative Karl Hermann (1883–1939), with whom she had three children: Felix (1911–1940), Gertrude Kaufmann (1912–1972), and Hanna Seidner (1920–1941).<ref name="kafkamuseum">{{cite web|url=https://kafkamuseum.cz/en/franz-kafka/family/sisters/|title=Sisters - Franz Kafka|website=kafkamuseum.cz|access-date=2024-04-04}}</ref>

In a letter to [[Max Brod]] from August 1947, daughter Gerti Kaufmann reports that Franz Kafka was regarded by his sisters as a kind of higher being. Elli only seems to have developed a closer relationship with her brother Franz after her marriage to Karl Hermann. In the spring of 1915, Kafka accompanied her on a visit to her husband, who was stationed in [[Hungary]]. In 1923 (one year before his death), Franz Kafka spent his summer vacation with Elli and her children in [[Graal-Müritz|Müritz]] on the Baltic Sea. Franz Kafka was actively involved in the upbringing and development of his sister's children, as several of his letters attest. However, Elli did not follow her brother's advice to have her children educated at the Reformed Pedagogical School in [[Hellerau]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

With the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929, the Hermann family ran into financial difficulties. The bankruptcy of the family business and the death of her husband on February 27, 1939, meant that Elli Hermannová was largely dependent on the support of her sisters.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

On October 21, 1941, she was deported together with her daughter Hanna to the [[Łódź Ghetto]], where she lived temporarily with her sister Valli and her husband in the spring of 1942. Elli Hermannová was probably killed in the [[Kulmhof extermination camp]] in the fall of 1942. Other relatives of hers, including her sisters Valli and Ottla, were also victims of [[the Holocaust]]. Of Elli's three children, only her daughter Gerti (Gertrude) survived the [[World War II|Second World War]]. A memorial plaque commemorates the three sisters at the family grave in the [[New Jewish Cemetery, Prague|New Jewish Cemetery]] in Prague.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

== References ==

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[[Category:1889 births]]

[[Category:1942 deaths]]