Rahel Varnhagen

Hannah Arendt, a political philosopher wrote a book-length biography titled “Rahel Varnhagen The Life of a Jewess.” Arendt finished what was originally intended to be her Habilitationsschrift while living in exile as a refugee; however, the East and West Library did not publish it in English until 1957 in London, United Kingdom. The book explores the life of Jewish socialite Rahel Varnhagen in the nineteenth century.

Arendt explores the delusion of a genuine German-Jewish “symbiosis” and the endangered status of her subject against the backdrop of the devastating destruction of German-Jewish civilization. Arendt’s personal experience as a German Jewish lady expelled from her own culture and forced to live as a stateless person is also reflected in the book.