Education[edit]
From 1889 to 1893, Kafka attended the Deutsche Knabenschule German boys' elementary school at the Masný trh/Fleischmarkt (meat market), now known as Masná Street. His Jewish education ended with his Bar Mitzvah celebration at the age of 13. Kafka never enjoyed attending the synagogue and went with his father only on four high holidays a year.[11][17][18]
An ornate four-storey palatial building
Kinský Palace where Kafka attended gymnasium and his father owned a shop
After leaving elementary school in 1893, Kafka was admitted to the rigorous classics-oriented state gymnasium, Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium, an academic secondary school at Old Town Square, within the Kinský Palace. German was the language of instruction, but Kafka also spoke and wrote in Czech;[19][20] he studied the latter at the gymnasium for eight years, achieving good grades.[21] Although Kafka received compliments for his Czech, he never considered himself fluent in Czech, though he spoke German with a Czech accent.[1][20] He completed his Matura exams in 1901.[22]
…show more content…
In addition, law required a longer course of study, giving Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history.[24] He also joined a student club, Lese-und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten (Reading and Lecture Hall of the German students), which organized literary events, readings and other activities.[25] Among Kafka's friends were the journalist Felix Weltsch, who studied philosophy, the actor Yitzchak Lowy who came from an orthodox Hasidic Warsaw family, and the writers Oskar Baum and Franz