Hannah Arendt

Born in 1906 in Linden near Hannover. Studied philosophy and theology and received her doctorate from Karl Jaspers in Heidelberg in 1928. Her scientific work was interrupted by the National Socialist takeover. After the Gestapo had briefly arrested Arendt in July 1933, she soon fled to Paris via Prague, Genoa and Geneva. There she joined the World Zionist Organization and became involved as Secretary General of the Youth Aliyah in France. After World War II had begun, Arendt was held in the internment camp at Gurs for several weeks. In May 1941, she managed to leave for the USA with her husband Heinrich Blücher and her mother. In New York, she wrote regular columns for the German-Jewish emigrant newspaper »Aufbau« and worked for the Conference on Jewish Relations. Shortly before the end of World War II, she began with the studies for her work »The Origins of Totalitarianism« which received a major response after its publication in 1951. The political philosopher remained in the USA after 1945 and taught as a professor at various universities. Until her death in December 1975, against the backdrop of her experiences under the Nazi dictatorship and in exile, her oeuvre was repeatedly devoted to the fundamental questions of personal responsibility for political action in the totalitarian state. »The Human Condition«, Arendt's main philosophical work, was first published in English in 1958, and, two years later, in German under the title »Vita activa«.

Schaubühne:

THE HUMAN CONDITION, Realisation Patrick Wengenroth (2019)