Illustration: Hannah Arendt halb liegend mit rauchender Zigarette in der rechten Hand Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel
Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Hannah Arendt

Fifty years after her death, the work of German-American philosopher and author Hannah Arendt remains strikingly relevant. In the face of today’s complex challenges, her work compels to revisit fundamental questions of freedom, responsibility, and judgment. In this dossier we approach Arendt’s life and work in a nuanced and insightful way and invite you to reflect on them in a contemporary context: What does it mean today to think and act in the spirit of Hannah Arendt?

Illustration: Illustration: Hannah Arendt and her book “The Origins of Totalitarianism” Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

“The Origins of Totalitarianism” The Relevance of Hannah Arendt

The disturbing relevance of Arendt's work is well-known. Nowhere is this more evident than in her three-volume work, “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, published in 1951.

Leonhard Emmerling

An illustration featuring Hannah Arendt's biography and several microphones in the foreground. Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Thomas Meyer Action as Freedom

Hannah Arendt, perhaps the most influential thinker of the 20th century, died 50 years ago. In an interview, philosophy professor Thomas Meyer reveals why her ideas remain so relevant today and how her years in exile shaped this thinking.

Jürgen Moises

Thomas Meyer

When the legislative branch is neutralized by governing with decrees and the judicial branch disregards the courts, as is the case today, only the will of the executive branch prevails. In this scenario, reason and judgment are rendered insignificant.

Leonhard Emmerling

Illustration of Hannah Arendt sitting on a sofa. Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Marie Luise Knott
 Hannah Arendt’s Power of Judgement

How can we confront the incomprehensible? How can we arrive at a new understanding of the world and politics after the collapse of all certainties? Hannah Arendt asked these questions with an intellectual radicalism that continues to fascinate us to this day. This is a portrait of a thinker who still encourages us to think for ourselves.

Marie Luise Knott

Illustration: Hannah Arendt in Paris Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Life in Paris
Eight Rather Happy Years

In 1933, Hannah Arendt left Germany and fled to Paris. The eight years she spent there before emigrating to the United States had a profound impact on the life and work of the political theorist. Yet for a long time, researchers largely overlooked this period of her life.

Gina Arzdorf

Roger Berkowitz
 Learning to Think Again

Hannah Arendt warned that real thinking demands courage and solitude. In an age of algorithms, outrage, and fear of speaking out, Roger Berkowitz shows why her voice is more urgent than ever and considers whether Arendt would succeed as an influencer today.

Lena Kronenbürger

Prof. Roger Berkowitz

The illustration shows Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin, both in their younger years, with the Eiffel Tower visible in the background. Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Flight and Philosophy
An Intellectual Kinship

What connects Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin beyond their shared exile in Paris? Sigrid Weigel and Uta Staiger explore their intellectual paths and surprising parallels between the two thinkers – and examine why their ideas are more relevant today than ever before.

Bettina Bremme

Uta Staiger

Sigrid Weigel

Ausschnitt aus der Graphic Novel „Die drei Leben der Hannah Arendt” Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Storytelling What’s the story with Hannah Arendt? (in ten words)

Ken Krimstein, author of “The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt - A Tyranny of Truth” shares how the stories of Hannah Arendt allow their readers to better understand her thinking.
 

Ken Krimstein

Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy in Sicily. 1971. Courtesy of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust / Art Resource, NY

Letters The many friendships of Hannah Arendt

Author Madeleine Thien explores the aspect of Friendship as one of the great and palpable joys of Hannah Arendt’s life.

Madeleine Thien

Illustration: Hannah Arendt reclining with a cigarette in her right hand, next to her the television tower, the underground and the world clock in Berlin. Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Unfiltered Thoughts
 The Banality of Smoking

Hannah Arendt was a smoker – as countless iconic photographs reveal. Katharina Holzmann asks how this simple ritual shaped the philosopher’s thinking.

Katharina Holzmann

Illustration: Hannah Arendt in New York Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

Life in New York
 Places, People, and Intellectual Passages

Between exile and arrival, Hannah Arendt found in New York not just refuge, but a stage for her thinking. From cramped rooms to riverside views, the city shaped her intellectual journey — and became the backdrop for some of her most influential work.

Walter Schlect

Illustration: Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger Illustration: © Eléonore Roedel

An Impossible Relationship
 Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger

Can you remain loyal to someone who aligned with the Nazis? Hannah Arendt did – and, in the process, wrote a quiet chapter of German postwar history. This was a relationship that tested the very boundaries of thought and morality.

Berthold Franke

Even today, and likely well into the future, her voice will remain present.

Marie-Luise Knott

Hannah Arendt Bibliografie © Eléonore Roedel

Hannah Arendt's Works
 Bibliography

On this page you will find an extensive, though not exhaustive, bibliography by and about Hannah Arendt, compiled by Samantha Rose Hill.