Hey!
I live in Vienna and love Prague a lot – probably because of that I’m fascinated with the cultural melting pot this city once was. Surprisingly late I learned about the (very) large population of German speakers and especially German Jews that lived in Prague during Kafka’s time. On the other side there was a big movement solidifying pan-slavic identity around the turn of the century.
Because the second world war changed everything about multiculturalism in Europe I struggle to understand the way these groups co-existed before the Holocaust. I assume they were not co-existing peacefully but rather in separate social circles and separate parts of the town. I imagine understanding the “German people” at the time might be central here as many of them lived predominantly secluded lives far away from Germany. Still people must have had a certain degree of bilingualism to get around, especially in middle- to upper-class circles, right?
Why is there no mention of the Czech language and slavic culture in Kafkas work? So far I haven’t read it all but, even though it’s not mentioned, I imagined “Der Prozeß” to take place in Prague. Or did he write for German audiences and purposefully didn’t specify the city? I always thought he didn’t write for an audience at all. Or did people really live such separate lives that a German speaking Jew didn’t come in contact with Czech people at all?
Thanks a lot for any input!
by AlfonsoRibeiro666