Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love

A powerful portrait of loss, love, and survival in Nazi Germany.

Kafka’s great love, Milena Jesenká, to whom he wrote his most passionate letters, was a beautiful, politically committed, talented free spirit. At one time Kafka’s translator, she later became a celebrated journalist. Milena took an early stand against Hitler, which she pursued with vigor after the Nazis came to power.

As the head of a politically committed newspaper targeted by the Nazis, Milena was arrested in 1939 and sent to one of Hitler’s death camps, Ravensbrück. There she met Margarete Buber-Neumann, a fellow political prisoner, also a writer and opponent of Nazism. This book portrays a unique and remarkable friendship between the two women, a bond that helped them endure. They made a pact: if they survived, they would write a book together; if only one made it, she would tell the story. Three weeks before D-day, Milena died in the camp. Thus it fell to Buber-Neumann to tell Milena’s story. This book is a full biography of Milena, from her strict childhood in Prague to her love affair with Franz Kafka. By artfully and discreetly interweaving images of Ravensbrück with episodes from Milena’s life, the author avoids repeating the already well-documented accounts of concentration camps. She gives us a lesson in humanity and dignity, and an unforgettable homage to friendship.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love

A powerful portrait of loss, love, and survival in Nazi Germany.

Kafka’s great love, Milena Jesenká, to whom he wrote his most passionate letters, was a beautiful, politically committed, talented free spirit. At one time Kafka’s translator, she later became a celebrated journalist. Milena took an early stand against Hitler, which she pursued with vigor after the Nazis came to power.

As the head of a politically committed newspaper targeted by the Nazis, Milena was arrested in 1939 and sent to one of Hitler’s death camps, Ravensbrück. There she met Margarete Buber-Neumann, a fellow political prisoner, also a writer and opponent of Nazism. This book portrays a unique and remarkable friendship between the two women, a bond that helped them endure. They made a pact: if they survived, they would write a book together; if only one made it, she would tell the story. Three weeks before D-day, Milena died in the camp. Thus it fell to Buber-Neumann to tell Milena’s story. This book is a full biography of Milena, from her strict childhood in Prague to her love affair with Franz Kafka. By artfully and discreetly interweaving images of Ravensbrück with episodes from Milena’s life, the author avoids repeating the already well-documented accounts of concentration camps. She gives us a lesson in humanity and dignity, and an unforgettable homage to friendship.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love

Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love

Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love

Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love

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Overview


A powerful portrait of loss, love, and survival in Nazi Germany.

Kafka’s great love, Milena Jesenká, to whom he wrote his most passionate letters, was a beautiful, politically committed, talented free spirit. At one time Kafka’s translator, she later became a celebrated journalist. Milena took an early stand against Hitler, which she pursued with vigor after the Nazis came to power.

As the head of a politically committed newspaper targeted by the Nazis, Milena was arrested in 1939 and sent to one of Hitler’s death camps, Ravensbrück. There she met Margarete Buber-Neumann, a fellow political prisoner, also a writer and opponent of Nazism. This book portrays a unique and remarkable friendship between the two women, a bond that helped them endure. They made a pact: if they survived, they would write a book together; if only one made it, she would tell the story. Three weeks before D-day, Milena died in the camp. Thus it fell to Buber-Neumann to tell Milena’s story. This book is a full biography of Milena, from her strict childhood in Prague to her love affair with Franz Kafka. By artfully and discreetly interweaving images of Ravensbrück with episodes from Milena’s life, the author avoids repeating the already well-documented accounts of concentration camps. She gives us a lesson in humanity and dignity, and an unforgettable homage to friendship.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781628723298
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Publication date: 05/06/2014
Pages: 213
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author


Margarete Buber-Neumann was born in Potsdam, Germany, in 1901. She survived imprisonment during World War II in both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and after the war wrote several books detailing her experiences. She died in Frankfurt in 1989.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1 Meeting at the Wailing Wall 1

2 Stronger than Any Barbarism 11

3 Jan Jesensky 17

4 The Minervans Come of Age 26

5 The Loving One 38

6 The Lowest Depths 48

7 Franz Kafka and Milena 56

8 The Way to Simplicity 74

9 Marriage and Illness 83

10 A Blind Alley 91

11 New Tasks 99

12 Political Journalist 104

13 Mater Misericordiae 116

14 Let Us Not Perish… 126

15 The Catastrophe 133

16 A Free Woman 150

17 "A Time of Sadness is Rising Over the Horizon" 157

18 Protégées 162

19 The Zealots 169

20 Friendship to the Death 179

21 Her Last Birthday 196

22 Milena's End 200

Biographical Notes 207

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