Language:
German
Year of publication:
1988
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Politik
Angaben zur Quelle:
35,2 (1988) 113-129
Keywords:
Arendt, Hannah,
;
Antisemitism Philosophy
Abstract:
Hannah Arendt's analysis of the "Jewish question" was not restricted to the well-known chapter in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951). Her earlier articles and essays from 1929 should also be studied. She argued that the victimization of Jews was made possible by their alienation and their passivity in situations calling for collective political action. Individual Jews tried to attain social acceptance through personal success, becoming parvenus, but few of them recognized their "pariah" status. Arendt saw antisemitism as an important part of totalitarianism, used by the Nazis to win over the masses. Her analysis of Jewish political passivity led her to adopt a militant stand on issues such as the establishment of a Jewish army in order to counter Nazi propaganda (and to give the Jews political status) and breaking the "conspiracy of silence" on the Holocaust.
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