After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the ban on Kafka’s works was lifted. The writer was made a champion of the politically oppressed, the status of his works throughout the communist regime only serving to glorify his works.[1] [2] Near the beginning of his presidency, Václav Havel proclaimed that Kafka represents a “quintessential writer of modernist alienation” and that his writings reflect the status of those shunned for their opposition of the communist regime.[3] Thus, Franz Kafka became a symbol for the Czech people of triumph over their oppressive past. This sudden popularity had another unexpected outcome, a sudden urge to memorialize and reframe memories of the past. This created the opportunity for names like Franz Kafka to become commodified for their representative role in this new national narrative. 

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