Arendt Anti Semitism

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German born political theorist. Though often described as a philosopher, she rejected that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular" and instead described herself as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact that "men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world."[6] As an assimilated Jew, she escaped Europe during the Holocaust and became an American citizen. Her works deal with the nature of power, and the subjects of politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. (Wikipedia)

Hannah Arendt, in her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, wrote about the rise of anti-Semitism in central and Western Europe in the 1800s.It takes a hard look at two rival movements. She wanted to give the readers a sense of reality of totalitarianism. She discusses the origins of anti-Semitism and the position of Jewish people. She examines European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. Institutions and operations of

totalitarianism movements are explored by Arendt in Origins. Two forms of totalitarianism government are Arendt’s main focus in the literature; Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. She wrote about the concentration and extermination camps of the Nazi’s. Origins is broken down into three sections anti-Semitism, imperialism, and totalitarianism.
The first part of Origins is about to historical origin of anti-Semitism.

The historical roots of anti-Semitism were examined by Arendt to see some of the ways historians dealt with it. Situations and events that assisted in the spread of this phenomenon through European culture was mainly focused around the 19th century. Arendt demonstrates how anti-Semitism arose from different causes. She argues that the gradual development of mass culture and mass politics was the result in minority such as Jews being targeted and scapegoated. The scape-goat theory was one cause of the start of anti-Semitism. Arendt explains how Jews are always the scapegoat because they are believed to be the primary cause of the world’s problems. They were used as innocent scapegoats for all of the world’s problems. She explains that anti-Semitism was a gradual political movement that reached its climax in the late 19th century and especially in the 20th

century.
The rise in anti-Semitism in the birth of the nation-state, the emancipation of the Jews, the rise of the Jewish financers, the roles of the Jews within society, and the infamous Dreyfus Affair was explored. The Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906), divided France and became a political battle between anti-Semites and their opponents. A important role in the development of anti-Semitism was the thought that the Jews constitute a race or are members of secret societies and clubs.