Return of Kafka’s ‘The Trial’

The request from the national library is part of a long dispute about inheritance from Kafka’s close friend, Max Brod.

Israel seeks the return of Franz Kafka’s original manuscript of the novel ‘The Trial’ from the German Museum of Modern Literature because, according to Israel, it was acquired by the fraud.

Israeli paper Ha'aretz published an article which says that the Israeli national library, which claims to be the only successor of manuscripts, plans to send a request to the German archive in Marbach.

Manuscript passed from Prague to Tel Aviv in 1939, and it was sold to Germany in 1988. Germany paid approximately two million U.S. dollars which is the highest amount ever paid for a modern manuscript.

National Library’s request is part of a long dispute about the legacy of Max Brod, Kafka's close friend and executor of his last will.

Heir’s daughter sold the manuscript

Brod ignored Kafka's instruction to destroy his manuscripts, and fleeing Czechoslovakia, took them with him in 1939.

When he died in Tel Aviv in 1968, manuscripts were inherited by his secretary, Esther Hoff.

Israel's national library sued Eve, the daughter of Esther Hoffe, for selling Kafka’s manuscripts.

Eva Hoffa allegedly sold the manuscript of the novel ‘The Trial’, which was contrary to both Brod’s last will, as well as Israeli law which prohibits the international sale of important manuscripts.