Photo: Martina Kutková, Radio Prague International
The last years of Kafka’s life were associated with severe illness and numerous stays in sanatoriums. On this account, Kafka has often been described as sickly. However, as long as his health allowed, he exercised regularly, washed with cold water and generally tried to keep fit. In 1922, two years before his death, tuberculosis forced him to resign from the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Company. Following his doctor’s advice, he went to the mountains to get some fresh air, says David Stecher, director of the Prague Literary House:
“There was a big flu pandemic back then, and many people succumbed to the disease. Not everybody knows that Kafka also had the flu, but overcame it. However, he subsequently got infected with tuberculosis. He stayed in the Tatra Mountains for seven months, undergoing treatment. From there he went to Špindlerův Mlýn, where he stayed at the Krone Hotel, now the Savoy. That’s where he really started writing The Castle. Afterwards, he also stayed in a sanatorium near Vienna.”
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Author: Martina Kutková; Ruth Fraňková