Cologne - Franz Kafka

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

Franz Kafka is one of the of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His best known works include "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis") and "Der Process". The term "Kafkaesque" has entered the language to describe situations that are puzzling, surreal and maybe frightening.

I felt a bit Kafkaesque, when I recently found this obituary notice, pasted on a lamppost in Cologne´s Südstadt quarter.

Franz Kafka was born 03.07.1883.
Today is his birthday.