Hannah Arendt Page #4

Miller begged me

to take over another class.

Someone's ill or getting a divorce or

something typically American like that.

My head's spinning as it is.

You have to learn to say no.

But only to others, of course.

Hannah.

Yes?

Ah. Here.

Hello, Mr. Shawn.

Uh, she's not in right now.

She should be back soon.

Yes, certainly.

I will give her the message.

Well?

That polite Mr. Shawn

didn't say as much,

but I guess he's curious to know

when you'll deliver the articles.

There's not even a verdict yet.

Yes...

How dare that Mr. Shawn call you at all?

I don't think he can imagine

that so celebrated a writer as you

is so busy fighting her papers

and hasn't written a word.

But Monsieur here would have finished

the articles long ago.

Without a doubt.

Thank you.

Frau Professor.

You can also use my office.

You are too kind, sir!

You just have to move my pipe-stand.

Your doctor will like that.

People in glass houses...

How can you leave me like that?

No hug, no kiss?

Never disturb a great philosopher

when they're thinking.

But they can't think without kisses.

You can put it here.

Thank you, Freddy.

You're welcome.

From Israel.

At least 500 new pages from the court.

I'll sort them for you later.

I'm so lucky to have you, Lotte.

I'd never be such good friends

with my own daughter.

My father always says

God gave us family,

but thank God we can choose our friends.

Well...

Interesting theory.

- You think I'd have chosen Charlotte?

- Oh, I forgot. She called earlier.

She wanted Heinrich's

new number at Bard.

Did you give it to her?

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it.

Careful, Lotte. She's a psychoanalyst

and can probably read your mind...

Should I take these away again?

Please.

Thanks.

They slept as if dead.

Someone came in and called out:

Quick now, the SS are coming back.

I had two friends beside me.

Once a week the infamous

Dr. Mengele selection was held.

The rumor

that Dr. Mengele had arrived was enough

to spread fear and terror

throughout the camp.

...confess his guilt...

If there had been more

of what I term civil courage,

then some things

would have turned out differently.

PHILOSOPHY FACULTY

PROF. DR. M. HEIDEGGER

Miss Arendt.

You say you want me

to teach you how to think.

Thinking

is a lonely business.

Every time I even write a sex

scene, I have you horribly on my conscience,

as if you're tugging at

my elbow saying, "Stop."

I have no problem with sex. I'm afraid you'll

think I'm an exhibitionist or something.

Well, you are.

But you've written your first book

without a hint of memoir.

It's pure fiction, is it?

Is that a left-handed compliment

or just straight criticism? No!

I think you've written

beautifully balanced sentences,

and I think at times

it's hilariously funny.

You have never been this positive. Did

you hate all my other books? Mary!

Well!

You can't take a compliment.

No.

Hannah!

You are my heroine!

I thank you. The

German Department thanks you.

We all thank you.

Oh, God. Ask him for a raise.

You see,

Western tradition

mistakenly assumes

that the greatest evils of mankind

arise from selfishness.

But in our century,

evil has proven to be more radical

than was previously thought.

And we now know

that the truest evil,

the radical evil,

has nothing to do

with selfishness or any such

understandable, sinful motives.

Instead, it is based

on the following phenomenon:

making human beings

superfluous as human beings.

The entire concentration camp system

was designed

to convince the prisoners

they were unnecessary

before they were murdered.

In the concentration camps

men were taught

that punishment

was not connected to a crime,

that exploitation wouldn't profit anyone,

and that work produced no results.

The camp is a place

where every activity and human impulse

is senseless.

Where, in other words, senselessness

is daily produced anew.

So, to summarize:

If it is true

that in the final stage

of totalitarianism,

an absolute evil emerges,

absolute as it no longer relates

to human motives,

then it is equally true

that without it,

without totalitarianism,

we would never have known

the truly radical nature of evil.

What time is it?

Ah.

The second hour has begun.

You know what that means.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- May I ask you a personal question?

You can try.

Were you in a camp?

I had the opportunity

to spend some time in

a French detention camp called Gurs.

But weren't the French on your side?

In the beginning.

They took us in.

But when the Germans

invaded France on May 10, 1940,

our French friends

put us into detention camps.

We became

a new kind of human being,

put into concentration camps

by our enemies

and into detention camps

by our friends.

How did you escape?

My husband and I were

lucky to receive a visa to America.

A visa. Not a passport.

We were stateless for 18 years.

And what was your first impression

of America?

Paradise.

Do you understand?

Hannah!

Just a moment, please.

How did you find-

Who found-

Charlotte.

My class.

They are waiting.

I'll take over.

No, but, Mary, it's-

It's advanced German class.

They will be delighted to speak

English again. Go. Go. Go.

Dearest.

Don't cry.

I spoke to the doctor.

He said you only have

a fifty percent chance.

Don't forget the other fifty percent.

What were you speaking

to your students about?

About us.

I understand.

Thank you for the message.

Yes.

Hannah?

Yes.

They're hanging Eichmann.

And so they should.

They should?

But that's not justice.

The punishment's not enough?

The punishment can only give

an appearance of justice.

There are no real punishments

for his deeds.

That's why it'd be braver

to let him live.

Now the verdict's in,

you can stop avoiding

your New Yorker friends.

Not until you've recovered.

You haven't written a line

since my slight collapse.

Wrong. I've made some notes.

A brain aneurysm

isn't a "slight collapse" either.

You could have died.

But Eichmann is a monster.

And when I say monster,

I don't mean Satan.

You don't need to be smart or powerful

to behave like a monster.

You're being too simplistic.

What's new

about the Eichmann phenomenon

is that there are so many just like him.

He's a terrifyingly normal human being.

Not all normal people

were head of department 4B-4

at the Reich Security Office

charged with the extermination

of Europe's Jews.

You're right there.

But he considered himself

an obedient servant of Germany

who had to obey the Fhrer's orders.

"My loyalty is my honor."

The Fhrer's orders became the law.

He didn't feel guilty

in the sense of the indictment.

He behaved according to the law.

It's been proven

that Eichmann pursued the Final Solution

even after Himmler

had long since forbidden it.

And why?

He wanted to finish his work.

Don't you see that every law,

every commandment

was turned upside down.

It was not "Thou shalt not kill,"

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