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"In the Penal Colony" ("In der Strafkolonie") (also translated as "In the Penal Settlement") is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919. The story is set in an unnamed penal colony. Internal clues and the setting on an island suggest Octave Mirbeau's "The Torture Garden" as an influence

The story is set in an unnamed penal colony. In the Penal Colony describes the last use of an elaborate torture and execution device that carves the sentence of the condemned prisoner on his skin in a script before letting him die, all in the course of 12 hours. As the plot unfolds, the listener learns more and more about the machine, including its origin, and original justification.

Based on hours of interviews with camp survivors and workers, thousands of government documents, and over a decade of research, Darren Byler, one of the leading experts on Uyghur society and Chinese surveillance systems, uncovers how a vast network of technology provided by private companies - facial surveillance, voice recognition, smartphone data - enabled the state and corporations to blacklist millions of Uyghurs because of their religious and cultural practice starting in 2017.

Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883, in Prague, then in Bohemia, the eldest of 6, into a middle-class Jewish family. His literary works are few in number but towering in influence. His masterpieces include ‘The Trial’, ‘The Metamorphosis’ as well as a number of short stories which reveal facets of humankind that truthfully could only be born from Kafka’s brain and pen. His classic short story ‘In the Penal Colony’ begins with the innocuous words “It’s a peculiar apparatus,” as the Officer explains to the Traveller, what this grisly machine will do to the prisoners who serve their time here.

Para los lectores, hay pocas experiencias tan asombrosas e inolvidables como la primera lectura de Kafka. No importa lo que uno haya leído antes: cruzarse con una de sus novelas o cuentos, con un fragmento de sus diarios, es aprender a leer de un modo nuevo.

Franz Kafka nació en Praga el 3 de Julio de 1883, en el seno de una acomodada familia de comerciantes judíos de lengua alemana. A los 23 años se doctoró en derecho. Al año siguiente padeció los primeros síntomas de tuberculosis. A pesar de la enfermedad, de la hostilidad de su familia hacia su vocación literaria, de sus cinco tentativas matrimoniales frustradas y de su empleo de burócrata en una compañía de seguros, Franz Kafka se dedicó intensamente a la literatura.

En la colonia penitenciaria se describe el último uso de un elaborado instrumento de tortura y ejecución que esculpe la sentencia del condenado en su piel para luego dejarlo morir, todo esto en el curso de 12 horas. Al avanzar en la trama, el lector aprende más y más sobre el instrumento, incluyendo su origen y propósito original.