Hannah Arendt

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Lore & Background

Hannah Arendt was born to a Jewish family in Linden in 1906. Her father died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family, her mother being an ardent Social Democrat. After completing secondary education in Berlin, Arendt studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she engaged in a romantic affair that began while she was his student. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg in 1929. Her dissertation was entitled Love and Saint Augustine, and her supervisor was the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers. In 1933, Arendt was briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism. On release, she fled Germany, settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. When Germany invaded France she was detained as an alien by the French government. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established, and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.

Reader's Guide

Hannah Arendt's significance lies in her analysis of totalitarianism and the nature of evil, particularly through her controversial coverage of the Adolf Eichmann trial, where she introduced the concept of 'the banality of evil.' Her works, such as The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition, shaped twentieth-century political theory by examining power, authority, and direct democracy. Arendt's personal history—fleeing Nazi Germany and later becoming a U.S. citizen—informed her insights into how ordinary people participate in totalitarian systems. Her legacy endures through journals, schools, scholarly prizes, humanitarian prizes, think-tanks, streets, stamps, and monuments that commemorate her thought. Despite controversy over her interpretation of Eichmann, which some considered an apologia, her work remains a cornerstone of political philosophy and continues to influence debates on ethics, justice, and citizenship.

Did You Know?

• Arendt was briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo in 1933 for performing illegal research into antisemitism.
• She studied under Martin Heidegger at the University of Marburg and had a romantic affair with him while she was his student.
• Her doctoral dissertation was titled Love and Saint Augustine, supervised by Karl Jaspers at the University of Heidelberg in 1929.
• Arendt worked for Youth Aliyah in Paris, helping young Jews emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine.
• She became an American citizen in 1950, nine years after arriving in the United States.