Article by Christine Lecerf

Milena Jesenská was much more than the heroine of the passionate correspondence she had with Kafka: she was a brilliant journalist, a free and committed woman who became a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ in 1994. With her intelligence and strength of character, she captivated Kafka, inspiring him to write some of his finest letters. She also captivated Margarete Buber-Neumann, with whom she was deported to Ravensbrück and to whom she dedicated a splendid book-portrait. On the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of Milena’s death, Christine Lecerf expressed her admiration for the woman whom Kafka wanted “to carry in his arms out of the world”.