Fifty years after her death, philosopher Hannah Arendt’s political writings seem like a prophetic analysis of the present day. But Arendt was not only a thinker—she also took action. During the Nazi era and her exile in France, she stood up for persecuted people and helped Jewish children flee to Israel. Hannah Arendt’s work is overwhelming. Her political writings read like sophisticated analyses of the current wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as the rise of right-wing extremism in Europe.
Hannah Arendt’s life in Germany (born in Hanover in 1906), in exile in France, and in the US (died in New York in 1975) was wild and eventful. She did not submit to the zeitgeist and was controversial after the Second World War because of her stance on Zionism. At the same time, she never lost sight of the human perspective. Throughout her life, she maintained a clear view of National Socialism and anti-Semitism.
The film “Hannah Arendt and the Dangers of the Present” follows the traces Hannah Arendt left behind, on both sides of the Atlantic. Contemporary documents such as the legendary TV interview with Günter Gaus are commented on by today’s interpreters and thinkers. Actress Katharina Thalbach reads from Arendt’s writings for the cultural documentary. The film portrays a courageous, intelligent woman and thinker who appears to us today as a prophet of the present.
Film by Anna Pflüger and Lara Heinemann.
Commissioned by ZDF/3sat | 2025