Max Brod

Max Brod was born in 1884 in Prague

Max Brod was born in Prague in 1884 and grew up as a German-speaking Jew. As a child he suffered from a severe curvature of the spine. He began piano lessons at age 6 and started composing at 16.

He studied law at the German university in Prague and graduated in 1907, then worked in the civil service. In 1902 he met Franz Kafka, and the two remained close friends until Kafka died in 1924.

Brod published 83 titles, starting with his first novel in 1908. He became a Zionist in 1912 and worked as a critic for the Prager Tagblatt from 1924. As a critic and translator he promoted the operas of Leoš Janáček and wrote the first book on him.

Kafka asked Brod to burn his unpublished writings, but Brod refused and published them. In 1939 he fled the Nazis to Mandatory Palestine with a suitcase of Kafka's papers and settled in Tel Aviv. He worked as a dramaturg for Habimah and composed music in what he called a Mediterranean style.

Brod died in Tel Aviv in 1968 and was buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery. He left his literary estate to his secretary Esther Hoffe. After a legal dispute, the courts ruled that the National Library of Israel was the heir of his estate.