‘American Masters' explores the origins of Hannah Arendt
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Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem, attending the trial of Adolf Eichmann, 1961.
Wikimedia Commons
In one sense, Arendt makes for a poor documentary subject. The title of her final, posthumously published book is 'The Life of the Mind' (1977). The library and seminar room were where she was most at home.
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At the same time, she's a terrific subject. While Arendt's words and moral example are what matter about her and why she's remembered, her appearance was striking. Early photographs show a radiant earnestness that's breathtaking. In later photographs (Arendt died in 1975), her face has a grave, seamed majesty: a mirror to the life of the mind.
In addition, Arendt led a life of almost operatic tumult and upheaval. Born in 1903, she grew up in a secular Jewish family in East Prussia and Berlin. While in graduate school, she had an extended affair with Martin Heidegger. Three things about that relationship matter: neither party ever quite got over it; Heidegger was one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century; and he was a Nazi.
After Hitler came to power, Arendt was briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo. She fled to Czechoslovakia, then Paris. When the war broke out, the French put her in an internment camp. Escaping, she reached the United States in 1941. Another bit of implicit commentary? The word 'refugee' recurs throughout the documentary.
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However indirectly, Arendt is back in the news. She's among the 250 selections for President Trump's proposed
Mark Feeney is a Globe arts writer
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Mark Feeney can be reached at
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