kafka was born in prague to a family with jewish heritage in the austro-hungarian empire. his father, bruno kafka, was a member of the parliament of czechoslovakia and a second cousin of author franz kafka. he was educated in geneva and balliol college at oxford university. the invasion of czechoslovakia by germany in 1939 pushed his family to emigrate, settling in brazil in 1940, with kafka becoming a brazilian citizen. as denis healey, a contemporary at balliol, would remember in his memoirs: "there were also (in balliol) a handful of refugees from central europe, some of whom had to change their names. one kept his name but changed his nationality. when i was chancellor of the exchequer i was astonished to meet my czech friend, alex kafka, as the brazilian director of the imf."