Franz Kafka was born into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on July 3, 1883. Kafka studied law at the University of Prague and worked at an insurance company while pursuing his writing career. His writing gave him a posthumous reputation, as only a handful of his works were published during his lifetime. Kafka's complex relationship with his authoritarian father was a recurring theme in his work. He struggled with mental health issues throughout his life and eventually succumbed to tuberculosis. His friend and literary executor Max Brod defied his wishes to destroy his unpublished manuscripts and published them after his death, which led to his posthumous fame.