Franz Kafka felt an early aversion to orthodox medicine and inclined towards natural healing methods, undergoing natural therapy on several occasions at Zuckmantl. At the Zuckmantl health resort (now called Zlaté Hory) well situated some 500 m. above sea-level in the upland country of Moravian Silesia, they employed the natural healing methods introduced there years earlier by Vincent Priessnitz.
Franz Kafka felt an early aversion to orthodox medicine and inclined towards natural healing methods, undergoing natural therapy on several occasions at Zuckmantl. At the Zuckmantl health resort (now called Zlaté Hory) well situated some 500 m. above sea-level in the upland country of Moravian Silesia, they employed the naturaThe conditions treated there included anaemia, rheumatism, gout, diabetes and obesity, as well as physical and mental debility. A combination of hydrotherapy and electrotherapy was employed together with gymnastics, walks and a controlled diet. The spa, which was open from spring to autumn, had a capacity of 170 rooms for 220 patients, most of whom came from Bohemia and Prussian Silesia. It was a spa favoured by Jews as they suffered no discrimination there. The sanatorium boasted a library of 2000 books and promenade concerts took place on its grounds. Kafka first stayed there from 3 to 27 August 1905. It was during that first stay that Kafka had his first sexual experience, involving a woman patient there, about which he made a passing reference in his Diaries years later. Kafka’s second stay in Zuckmantel was slightly longer, from 23 July to 29 August 1906.l healing methods introduced there years earlier by Vincent Priessnitz.