Franz Kafka Passport Sold At Auction

Kafka’s passport, hitherto unknown and employed in the last two years of his life, stands as a remarkably personal and evocative piece of bureaucratic evidence. This document displays Kafka’s name written five times, including his signature, specifies various locations in Germany and Austria, and records Kafka’s physical description and his profession as an insurance officer.

The Passport Franz Kafka passport auction

Czechoslovak Passport Signed as “Dr. F. Kafka František” in Prague, dated June 1922. This 32-page printed booklet features handwritten notes and various stamps up to page 12, and it retains its original printed covers. Please note that the photograph is absent, and there are signs of general wear due to use. Additionally, there is a transmittal envelope included, postmarked 1946, sent from Robert Klopstock to Salman Schocken.

The provenance is excellent. Robert Klopstock (1899-1972) was a close friend of Kafka. They were both being treated for lung ailments outside Vienna, and Klopstock is known to have been at Kafka’s side when he died. Salman Schocken (1877-1959) is best-known for being Kafka’s publisher. The Nazis closed Schocken Books in 1939 and Salman Schocken moved first to Palestine and then to New York in 1945. Klopstock made it to New York in 1938 and transmitted this passport to Schocken in 1946.

Schocken was an inimitable collector, he also acquired Kafka’s letters to Felice Bauer (which sold at Sotheby’s in 1987). However, this item he gave to his friend Gerda Schulz (1915-2013), a fellow Jewish refugee and one-time employee, whose family is the current owner.

Presumably it was Schocken who removed the photograph, perhaps for use in one of his Kafka publications. The estimate was $10k to $15k. Franz Kafka passport auction

SOLD for $37.500 including premium

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