Franz Kafka has undoubtedly become an icon of world literature since the 1940s. But this fame did not come overnight. Already after his death in June 1924, he was increasingly written about and talked about in Central Europe. In his lecture on his new book "Vor dem Weltruhm" (Böhlau, Vienna/Cologne 2024) Ines Koeltzsch shows how, through texts, images and the spoken word, famous and unknown authors remembered Franz Kafka immediately after his death. Special emphasis is placed on the creation of a Jewish memorial community, to which the painter and Brno native Clara Epstein, among others, contributed. Admission fee voluntary