The German-American political scientist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a keen observer of world events in the 20th century - but she remained an outsider. 

Hannah Arendt repeatedly commented on the events of her time and coined two terms: “total domination” and “banality of evil”. In her judgments, the political theorist followed no program or tradition. Opinionated, controversial and stimulating, she spoke about totalitarianism, anti-Semitism, the situation of refugees, the Eichmann trial, Zionism, the political system and racial segregation in the USA, student protests and feminism. None of this is completed today.

German Historical Museum

From May 11, 2020 to October 18, 2020 showed that German Historical Museum in Berlin the exhibition “Hannah Arendt and the 20th Century”. At the center of the 1000 m² themed show with more than 300 objects and numerous film documents was Arendt as an intellectual and political theorist. 

She asks what historical judgment can do after the Holocaust and what the elements and origins of totalitarian rule are. Her questions are often connected to what she experienced in her biography. For example, questions about human rights, the rights of stateless people and the ability of a post-totalitarian society to distinguish between facts and opinions. Their decisive judgments are still as controversial today as their questions are topical.

Prof. Dr. Raphael Gross, President of the German Historical Museum

Hannah Arendt and anti-authoritarian education

One chapter of the exhibition dealt with Hannah Arendt's views on “progressive education” in the USA, the model of anti-authoritarian education. To illustrate this topic, the team led by curator Dr. Monika Boll works from my series “Anti-authoritarian children’s store versus Protestant kindergarten in 1970” in the exhibition: 

“Moving, disturbing, edgy” is the headline of an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from May 8, 2020 about the exhibition. “It documents German contemporary history in a moving way, honors a great thinker without smoothing over her edges, and makes you want to read her books and essays again or again.”

The exhibition was on view in Berlin from March 9th to May 16th, 2021 at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn.