Dora Diamant
Encyclopedia
Dora Diamant (March 4, 1898 – August 15, 1952) is best remembered as the lover of the writer Franz Kafka
and the person who kept some of his last writings in her possession until they were confiscated by the Gestapo
in 1933. This retention was expressly against the wishes of Kafka who had requested shortly before his death that they be destroyed.
, Poland
on March 4, 1898, the daughter of Herschel Dymant, a successful small businessman and a devout follower of the Hasidic dynasty in Ger
. After her mother's death around 1912, the family relocated to Będzin
, near the German border. At the end of World War I, after helping to raise her ten siblings, Dora refused to marry and was sent to Kraków
to study to be a kindergarten
teacher. She ran away and went to Berlin
, where she worked in the Berlin Jewish community as a teacher and seamstress in an orphanage (and changed the spelling of her name to Diamant).
In July 1923, she was a volunteer for the Berlin Jewish Peoples Homes Vacation Camp at Graal-Müritz
on the Baltic Sea
, when she met Franz Kafka, who was 40 years old and suffering from tuberculosis. It was love at first sight and they spent every day of the next three weeks together, making plans to live together in Berlin. In September, after returning briefly to Prague
, Kafka moved to Berlin, where he and Dora shared three different flats before his tuberculosis required hospitalization. Dora stayed with him, moving even to the sanatorium outside Vienna
where he died in her arms on June 3, 1924.
After Kafka's death, Diamant was blamed for burning Kafka's papers under his gaze and at his request during his last months of life, as well as for her decision to retain some of his journals and thirty-six of his letters to her. Despite Max Brod's
request that she turn over to him all the Kafka papers in her possession, Diamant kept letters Kafka had written to her. Max Brod, along with others in possession of letters and related materials also chose not to comply with Kafka's final requests that all his writing be destroyed. Diamant also secretly kept an unknown number of Kafka's notebooks, which remained in her possession until they were stolen from her apartment, along with her other papers, in a 1933 Gestapo raid. It is not known which notebooks ended in Diamant's possession and which had already been passed on to Brod during Kafka's last illness. Searches for these missing papers have been conducted by Max Brod and German Kafka scholar Klaus Wagenbach in the 1950s, and since the 1990s by the Kafka Project
, based at San Diego State University
in California
.
In the late 1920s Dora studied theatre at the Dumont Drama Academy in Düsseldorf
and worked as a professional actress. In the 1930s Dora joined the Communist Party of Germany
as an agitprop actress and married Lutz Lask, editor of Die Rote Fahne
, the Communist party newspaper. She gave birth to a daughter, Franziska Marianne Łask, on March 1, 1934.
Dora escaped Germany with her daughter in 1936, joining her husband in Soviet Russia. After Łask was arrested and sent to the Far East during Joseph Stalin
's purges in 1937
, Dora left the Soviet Union, traveling across Europe, reaching safety in England one week before the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939.
Dora and her daughter were interned as enemy aliens at the Port Erin Women's Detention Camp on the Isle of Man
in 1940-1941. Released, she returned to London, where she helped to found the Friends of Yiddish, working to keep the Yiddish language and culture alive. In 1950 she finally realized her lifelong dream and visited the new state of Israel
. She died of a kidney failure at Plaistow Hospital in east London on August 15, 1952, and was buried in an unmarked grave
in the United Synagogue Cemetery on Marlowe Road in East Ham
. In 1999, her living relatives from Israel and Germany gathered at her gravesite for a stonesetting.
In 1973, at the age of 70 years, Lutz Lask was finally allowed to leave East Germany to visit his daughter, Marianne, in London. After forty years of separation, father and daughter were finally reunited for a few days. He returned to Germany and soon thereafter, died on December 14, 1973, in Berlin. Marianne died in London, on or about September 1, 1982.
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
and the person who kept some of his last writings in her possession until they were confiscated by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
in 1933. This retention was expressly against the wishes of Kafka who had requested shortly before his death that they be destroyed.
Biography
Diamant was born in PabianicePabianice
Pabianice is a town in central Poland with 69 648 inhabitants . Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
on March 4, 1898, the daughter of Herschel Dymant, a successful small businessman and a devout follower of the Hasidic dynasty in Ger
Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....
. After her mother's death around 1912, the family relocated to Będzin
Bedzin
Będzin is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza river , the city borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metro area with a population of about 2 million.It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its...
, near the German border. At the end of World War I, after helping to raise her ten siblings, Dora refused to marry and was sent to Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
to study to be a kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
teacher. She ran away and went to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where she worked in the Berlin Jewish community as a teacher and seamstress in an orphanage (and changed the spelling of her name to Diamant).
In July 1923, she was a volunteer for the Berlin Jewish Peoples Homes Vacation Camp at Graal-Müritz
Graal-Müritz
Graal-Müritz is a Seeheilbad in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is located in the Rostock district, near Rostock, Ribnitz-Damgarten and Stralsund....
on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, when she met Franz Kafka, who was 40 years old and suffering from tuberculosis. It was love at first sight and they spent every day of the next three weeks together, making plans to live together in Berlin. In September, after returning briefly to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Kafka moved to Berlin, where he and Dora shared three different flats before his tuberculosis required hospitalization. Dora stayed with him, moving even to the sanatorium outside Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
where he died in her arms on June 3, 1924.
After Kafka's death, Diamant was blamed for burning Kafka's papers under his gaze and at his request during his last months of life, as well as for her decision to retain some of his journals and thirty-six of his letters to her. Despite Max Brod's
Max Brod
Max Brod was a German-speaking Czech Jewish, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is most famous as the friend and biographer of Franz Kafka...
request that she turn over to him all the Kafka papers in her possession, Diamant kept letters Kafka had written to her. Max Brod, along with others in possession of letters and related materials also chose not to comply with Kafka's final requests that all his writing be destroyed. Diamant also secretly kept an unknown number of Kafka's notebooks, which remained in her possession until they were stolen from her apartment, along with her other papers, in a 1933 Gestapo raid. It is not known which notebooks ended in Diamant's possession and which had already been passed on to Brod during Kafka's last illness. Searches for these missing papers have been conducted by Max Brod and German Kafka scholar Klaus Wagenbach in the 1950s, and since the 1990s by the Kafka Project
Kafka project
The Kafka Project is a non-profit literary research initiative founded in 1998 at San Diego State University. Working on behalf of the Kafka estate in London, England, the SDSU Kafka Project is working to recover materials written by Franz Kafka, the widely acclaimed modernist author, stolen by the...
, based at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
In the late 1920s Dora studied theatre at the Dumont Drama Academy in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
and worked as a professional actress. In the 1930s Dora joined the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
as an agitprop actress and married Lutz Lask, editor of Die Rote Fahne
Die Rote Fahne
The German newspaper Die Rote Fahne was created on 9 November 1918 by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin, first as organ of the left wing revolutionary Spartakusbund. After the founding of the Communist Party of Germany on 1 January 1919 it became the central publication of the party,...
, the Communist party newspaper. She gave birth to a daughter, Franziska Marianne Łask, on March 1, 1934.
Dora escaped Germany with her daughter in 1936, joining her husband in Soviet Russia. After Łask was arrested and sent to the Far East during Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's purges in 1937
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, Dora left the Soviet Union, traveling across Europe, reaching safety in England one week before the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939.
Dora and her daughter were interned as enemy aliens at the Port Erin Women's Detention Camp on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
in 1940-1941. Released, she returned to London, where she helped to found the Friends of Yiddish, working to keep the Yiddish language and culture alive. In 1950 she finally realized her lifelong dream and visited the new state of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. She died of a kidney failure at Plaistow Hospital in east London on August 15, 1952, and was buried in an unmarked grave
Unmarked grave
The phrase unmarked grave has metaphorical meaning in the context of cultures that mark burial sites.As a figure of speech, a common meaning of the term "unmarked grave" is consignment to oblivion, i.e., an ignominious end. A grave monument is a sign of respect and fondness, erected with the...
in the United Synagogue Cemetery on Marlowe Road in East Ham
East Ham
East Ham is a suburban district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Newham. It is a built-up district located 8 miles east-northeast of Charing Cross...
. In 1999, her living relatives from Israel and Germany gathered at her gravesite for a stonesetting.
In 1973, at the age of 70 years, Lutz Lask was finally allowed to leave East Germany to visit his daughter, Marianne, in London. After forty years of separation, father and daughter were finally reunited for a few days. He returned to Germany and soon thereafter, died on December 14, 1973, in Berlin. Marianne died in London, on or about September 1, 1982.