The Three Lives of Hannah Arendt

Venue: Kammer - Her life reads like a crime thriller from many lives: Königsberg in the 10s, years of study with Heidegger and Jaspers, Berlin in the 20s, Paris of the 30s, escapes and friendships, the New York of the 50s and 60s. The wars and totalitarianisms of the 20th century shape and concern them. Her main political work Elements and Origins of Total Rule made her famous overnight in 1951. When she reported from Jerusalem about the Eichmann trial in 1961, she recognized the mass murderer as a bureaucratic “buffoon” and thus sparked a controversy. It withstands criticism. She wants to get to the bottom of things, even if it forces her to “think where it hurts,” as Hannah Arendt once said. Freedom of thought is her greatest asset. She calls it “thinking without railings.”

Ken Krimstein is an expert on the subject matter. The Chicago-based cartoonist and author, who otherwise regularly draws for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune, has dedicated a book to the biography of the famous thinker. In hundreds of drawings, his graphic novel The Three Lives of Hannah Arendt outlines an adventurous life. Theresa Thomasberger presents the biography as a journey through the 20th century.