Rieley Mitchell Section 9 Final Blogpost

Hannah Arendt on The Origins of Totalitarianism and "Why We Should Read Hannah Arendt Now"

  Who is Hannah Arendt?

Hannah Arendt was a German-born Jew and philosopher who took a deep dive into how the Holocaust happened rather than why. She was born in 1906 and died in 1975 spending her life narrowly escaping Anti-Semitic trials while analyzing the casual evil of German nationalists. Her work, including The Origins of Totalitarianism, influenced political theorists in the 20th century and continues to influence them today. 

The Origins of Totalitarianism

    Hannah Arendt's book The Origins of Totalitarianism is divided into three categories: Anti-Semitism, Imperialism, and Totalitarianism. Each category builds upon the other to reveal how a nation comes across the final conclusion of totalitarianism, and how this could happen without the citizens of said nation even realizing. It deeply evaluates the actions of not only Germany, but Europe as a whole and analyzes how each action in history built upon the last until humanity reached the Holocaust. 

    Beginning with Anti-Semitism, one must keep in mind at this point Jews in Europe had no national citizenship, social standing, or class identification. To explain this, Arendt uses the example of the 'Jewish Banker'. In this example, a Jew makes for a perfect, diplomatic banker because they have no nationality. A French-born Jew is not viewed as French. a German-born Jew is not viewed as German. They are able to transfer money between large nations without emotion due to the fact that they are not nationalistic. Without a true social-stance this powerful job was one of the things keeping Jews in the same social horizon as other Europeans. It gave them political equality in a time when they lacked social equality.  However, this swiftly changed when Europeans realized just how much power they could attain by taking the jobs of Jews. From this point, Jewish bankers were forced to loan money to the desperate families who needed it, rather than handle transactions between nations. As the first major act of Anti-Semitism (acted upon by all Europeans rather than Germans alone), this paved the way for the dark history to follow. 

    Arendt's second phase of The Origins of Totalitarianism, is Imperialism. At this point in time, France had moved into Africa. Although taking control of land was average for large nations, this was simply not the same as usual conquest. Typical imperialism until now included expanding empires. They took land to form more of France; However, when France moved into Africa they only wanted resources. Arendt painted a picture in readers' minds as she described how Frenchmen stumbled into Africa to find people who were so different than themselves. Arendt states that these Frenchmen described the people native to Africa as phantoms rather than people, as they passed through and around Africans rather than assimilating them into French culture as they normally would. You may be thinking "but what does this have to do with the holocaust?". The encounter of people who were not European made France ponder its own existence- along with the rest of Europe. What makes a Frenchman French? What makes a German man German? Thus nationalism was born. Each European country now felt a duty to individualize itself and exclude anyone who did not fit the bill which leads to...

    Totalitarianism-the last section of Arendt's work. In this section, we must start with a simple definition. Masses. What makes the masses? Arendt believed the masses were any group of people who lack political identity and social standing. The masses of Germany just so happened to be depressed both socially and economically from the effects of WWI. If you mix this with a charismatic power-hungry leader and blatant Anti-Semitism & Xenophobia, you have a catastrophically deadly mix on your hands. German nationalist were splattering propaganda to not only show other countries what Germany was, but to remind German citizens to join the National Socialist Movement. Yes that's right. This simple sounding political party is where Arendt's most famous idea of banal evil originates. When thinking of the Holocaust people get sick to their stomachs- rightfully so; However, in order to prevent this history from repeating itself, Hannah Arendt reminded us that it started as a simple political party. How could the average German citizen so violently shift from a democratic voter to the terrifying image of a Nazi? This is the power of Totalitarianism and banal evil. An evil so slowly incorporated and fed to the German citizens that the feeling of self-importance and contribution to something bigger outweighed the guilt of slaughtering millions. Through Totalitarianism, a person becomes superfluous and government power becomes shapeless to the benefit of their leader. Once you make people so distant from each other and so lonely they feel a need to participate in mass culture rather than communicating, it becomes deadly. 

    Arendt closed this by defining the differences between solitude, isolation, and loneliness. Solitude is when one can be with themselves, isolation is when one wants the company of others, and loneliness is when one can neither talk to others nor be alone. Arendt warned that a nation filled with loneliness is the best breeding ground for Totalitarianism because it makes people feel like they can contribute to something bigger than themselves.

Why We Should Read Hannah Arendt Now

    The article Why We Should Read Hannah Arendt Now goes into detail both about Arendt's fear for the future and why it is justified. Although shortly after the end of Nazi-reign nations worldwide seemed democratic and low-risk enough, things quickly shifted back to totalitarian rule. In present times, leaders of China, Russia, Iran, Belarus, and Cuba often work hand in hand in self-interest to an extent Hitler could not have imagined. Even in the US many citizens outright refuse election results. This demonstrates just how far from true democracy we have strayed. Additionally, in order to have human rights, you can no longer just live; You must be a citizen of where you live. All in all, history repeats itself and totalitarianism is a human trend. Hannah Arendt strongly expressed fear for the future by evaluating the past. There is no doubt she would recognize exactly where we are as nations are divided once again into those who are omnipotent and those who are powerless drones capable of banal evil.