Hannah Arendt

She was, Hannah Arendt wrote, "my closest friend, though she has been dead for some hundred years." Born in Berlin in 1771 as the daughter of a Jewish merchant, Rahel Varnhagen would come to host one of the most prominent salons of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Arendt discovered her writings some time in the mid-1920s, and soon began to reimagine Rahel's inner life and write her biography. Long unavailable and never before published as Arendt intended, Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess returns to print in an extraordinary new edition.

This article focuses on the trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem for his role in the extermination of Jews. A description of the Israeli court system is provided, as well as the conduct of the judges. Information is presented on the essence of the Eichmann case. Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's justifications for the trial are explored, as well as the impact of Eichmann's trial on the capture and arrest of other well-known war criminals.

An analysis of the nature, causes, and significance of violence in the second half of the twentieth century. Arendt also re-examines the relationship between war, politics, violence, and power.