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Dora Diamant – activist, actress, and Franz Kafka’s last companion

Dworja Diament, (Dora Dymant in Yiddish) was born in 1898 in the central Polish district capital Pabianice, south of Łódź. She spent her childhood in Będzin in Lesser Poland, on the edge of the Russian-controlled mining region of Congress Poland in Upper Silesia. She began her struggle for a broader Jewish education early in life. According to the strict traditions of her erudite Hasidic father and his local community, such an education was only available to male children. She secretly joined a Zionist group, twice ran away from a school for girls in Krakow, and finally, aged 21, escaped to Berlin to lead a self-determined life. It was there, in 1919, that she officially registered herself under a German version of her name: Dora Diamant. In July of 1923, while working at the Jewish People’s Home (Jüdisches Volksheim) in Müritz in the Mecklenburg region on the Baltic coast, she met the writer Franz Kafka (1883–1924). She fell in love with him and remained at his side until his death eleven months later. From 1926 to 1930, she worked as an actress in Düsseldorf. She joined the KPD, the Communist Party of Germany, and in 1932 married Lutz Lask (1903–1973), the editor of the communist newspaper “Die Rote Fahne”. In 1936, she fled with Lask to the Soviet Union, before travelling to Britain in 1940 to live in exile. She died in London on 15 August 1952, following a long illness.

Dora Diamant, probably Düsseldorf, around 1928 Portrait photograph, section marked as a passport image
Dora Diamant, probably Düsseldorf, around 1928 Portrait photograph, section marked as a passport image
©
Lask Collection

Dora Dymant’s own notes:

On a Production of Peretz’s. Three Gifts, in: Loshn un lebn [Language and Life]. Hoydesh-zshurnal far literaṭur, teater, kunst un kultur, 63, London: A. N. Stencl, 1945.

To Moshe Oved on his Sixtieth Birthday, in: Loshn un lebn 69, 1945.

On the Actress Dina Helpern’s Appearance on the London Yiddish Stage, in: Loshn un lebn, September 1946.

Shakespeare on the London Yiddish Stage, in: Loshn un lebn 81, 1946.

Shlomo Mikhoels. The Jew, in: Loshn un lebn 97, 1948.

On a Concert of the PPYL at the People’s Palace, in: Loshn un lebn, January 1949.

 

Bibliography:

J. P. (Josef Paul) Hodin: Memories of Franz Kafka. Notes for a definite biography, together with reflections on the problem of decadence, in: Horizon. A Review of Literature and Art, Volume 17, Book 97, London, January 1948, page 26–45; online resource: https://www.unz.com/print/Horizon-1948jan-00026/ (last retrieved on 4/8/2023).

J. P. (Josef Paul) Hodin: Erinnerungen an Franz Kafka, in: Der Monat. Eine internationale Zeitschrift, Year 1, No. 9, Berlin, June 1949, page 89–96.

Nicolas Baudy: Entretiens avec Dora Dymant. Compagne de Kafka, in: Évidences. Revue mensuelle de l'American Jewish Committee II (8), Paris (?) 1950, page 21–25.

Marthe Robert: Notes inédites de Dora Dymant sur Kafka, in: Évidences. Revue mensuelle de l'American Jewish Committee 28, Paris (?), November 1952.

Marthe Robert: Dora Dymants Erinnerungen an Franz Kafka, in: Merkur. Deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken, Year 7, Book 67, Munich, September 1953, page 848–851, https://www.merkur-zeitschrift.de/artikel/dora-dymants-erinnerungen-an-kafka-a-mr-7-9-848/ (last accessed on 4/8/2023).

Martha Hofmann: Dinah und der Dichter. Franz Kafkas Briefwechsel mit einer Sechzehnjährigen, in: Die österreichische Furche, Volume 10, 1954; 30. Supplement: Die Warte. Blätter für Forschung, Kunst und Wissenschaft, 24/7/1954.

Max Brod: Franz Kafka. Eine Biographie [Prague: Heinr. Mercy Sohn, 1937; New York: Schocken, 1954], Frankfurt/Main: S. Fischer, 1962.

Klaus Wagenbach: Franz Kafka in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (Rowohlt’s monographs, published by Kurt Kusenberg, rm 91 [1964]), Reinbek near Hamburg, 10th edition, 1972.

 “Als Kafka mir entgegenkam …”. Erinnerungen an Franz Kafka, published by Hans-Gerd Koch, Berlin: Wagenbach, 1995.

Ernst Pawel: The Nightmare of Reason. A Life of Franz Kafka, New York: The Noonday Press: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1984.

Nicholas Murray: Kafka und die Frauen. Biographie [London, 2004], Düsseldorf: Artemis & Winkler, 2007.

Hans-Gerd Koch: Kafka in Berlin. Eine historische Stadtreise, Berlin: Wagenbach, 2008.

Kathi Diamant: Dora Diamant. Kafkas letzte Liebe [New York, 2003], Düsseldorf: onomato, 2013.

Annekatrin Schaller: Dora Diamant, Kafkas letzte Liebe in Neuss. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Rheinischen Landestheaters, in: Novaesium. Neusser Jahrbuch für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Neuss 2017, page 263-286.

 

Online:

Announcement of a film about the meeting of Dora Diamant and Franz Kafka in Graal-Müritz on YouTube to mark the 100th anniversary, https://youtu.be/s3XPCgffWO0 (last accessed on 4/8/2023).

 

Dora Diamant, probably Düsseldorf, around 1928 Portrait photograph, section marked as a passport image
©
Lask Collection
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  • Fig. 1: Castle and synagogue in Będzin, around 1900

    Photograph, National Library of Warsaw (Biblioteka Narodowa w Warszawie), code no. F.4044/IV A

  • Fig. 2: Hebrew class in Będzin, around 1916

    The Hebrew class for women and girls in Będzin, with their teacher David Maletz, around 1916. Lower row, 1st from right: Dora Dymant

  • Fig. 3: Former Jewish People’s Home, Berlin

    Former Jewish People’s Home (1916-1933) Berlin, Dragonerstraße 22, now Max-Beer-Straße 5 (built in 1842)

  • Fig. 4: Franz Kafka, 1923/24

    Franz Kafka, 1923/24. Probably the last photograph taken of the writer, photographer unknown

  • Fig. 5: Miquelstraße 8, Berlin-Steglitz

    The first shared home of Dora Diamant and Franz Kafka (left-hand corner building, 3rd floor), destroyed during the war, now Muthesiusstraße 20-22, postcard, around 1910

  • Fig. 6: Former Higher Institute for Jewish Studies, Berlin

    Former Higher Institute for Jewish Studies, Berlin, Artilleriestraße 14. Now Leo-Baeck-Haus, Tucholskystraße 9, headquarters of the Central Council of Jews in Germany

  • Fig. 7: Grunewaldstraße 13, Berlin-Steglitz

    The second home of Dora Diamant and Franz Kafka, the former Villa Dr. Rethberg, Grunewaldstraße 13, Berlin-Steglitz

  • Fig. 8: Sanatorium Hoffmann, Kierling

    The building where Franz Kafka died: the former Sanatorium Hoffmann, Kierling bei Klosterneuburg, Tulln district, Lower Austria

  • Fig. 9: Dora Diamant, around 1924

    Dora Diamant, around 1924. Anonymous photographer

  • Fig. 10: Diamant and A.N. Stencl, 1950

    Dora Diamant and the poet Avrom Nokhem Stencl, England 1950. Anonymous photographer

  • Fig. 11: Dora Diamant, around 1925

    Dora Diamant, around 1925. Anonymous photographer, labelled on the back: “Dora, around 1925”

  • Fig. 12: Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus theatre

    Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus theatre, around 1910. Photographer: Julius Söhn, Düsseldorf City Archive, 226_540_001

  • Fig. 13: Dora Diamant, around 1928

    Dora Diamant, around 1928. Portrait or stage photo from her time at the Academy for Dramatic Art, Düsseldorf; anonymous photographer

  • Fig. 14: Lutz Lask, around 1933

    Lutz Lask, around 1933. Anonymous photographer

  • Fig. 15: Dora Diamant and her daughter Marianne, 1936

    Dora Diamant and her daughter Marianne, Berlin 1936, shortly before her departure for the Soviet Union; anonymous photographer

  • Fig. 16: Dora Diamant and her daughter Marianne, 1938

    Dora Diamant and her daughter Marianne, probably Sevastopol 1938, shortly before her escape from the Soviet Union; anonymous photographer

  • Fig. 17: Plaistow Hospital, London

    Plaistow Hospital, West Ham, London E 13, the building where Dora Diamant died, postcard, around 1930

  • Fig. 18: Dora Diamant’s grave

    Grave of Dora Diamant, United Synagogue Cemetery, Marlow Road, East Ham, London. Memorial stone from 1999

  • Eric Gottgetreu, 1974
    Eric Gottgetreu: They knew Kafka, in: The Jerusalem Post Magazine, 14/6/1974, page 16
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