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Arendt, Hannah (1968)

 

 

Hannah Arendt was a Philosophy teacher. She is the author of several titles, namely Responsibility and Judgement and Eichmann in Jerusalem. The Origins of Totalitarianism was published for the first time in 1951. “Known by the time of its publishing as one of the most important contributions to the understanding of totalitarianism, and later considered a classic, The Origins of Totalitarianism meanwhile gained the status of definitive history over this political reality. It begins by exploring the growth of anti-Semitism in eighteen century Europe, to continue analysing the European colonial imperialism since 1884 until the outbreak of the First World War. The end of the book analyses the institution and action of totalitarian movements, particularly in the two genuine forms of totalitarian governments of our time: Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. At this point, Arendt describes the transformation of classes in masses, the role of propaganda in the construction of a totalitarian world and the use of terror as an essential pre-requisite for this form of government. In the brilliant final chapter, Arendt analyses the state of isolation and solitude of individuals as a pre-condition for the absolute dominion of a Totalitarian State”.