1. Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism
1.1. Conferences in New York, Dresden, Berlin, and Oldenburg: An Overview
In 2001, an international community of Arendt scholars celebrated the 50th anniversary of the publication of Hannah Arendt's great work The Origins of Totalitarianism, first in New York, then in Dresden, finally in Berlin and Oldenburg.
In New York, a symposium was held at the New School University, October 11-13. The speakers were: George Kateb, Antonia Grunenberg, Richard J. Bernstein, Margaret Canovan, Jacques Taminiaux, Claude Lefort, Jonathan Schell, Andrew Arato, Jeffrey C. Isaac, Seyla Benhabib, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl. All papers presented were later published in the summer 2002 issue of Social Research, with an introduction by Jerome Kohn. Cf. below 1.2.
In Dresden, the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung held a colloquium on December 7: „Eine Bilanz 50 Jahre nach Erscheinen von ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’“ („The Origins of Totalitarianism:“ A Review After 50 Years). Participants were: Dagmar Barnouw, Sebastian Hefti, Otto Kallscheuer, and Sigrid Meuschel. Antonia Grunenberg moderated the talk, and Klaus-Dietmar Henke provided the introductory statement. Cf. below 1.3.
In Berlin, an international conference, organized by the Hannah Arendt-Zentrum (Oldenburg), the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, and the Einstein Forum (Potsdam) took place on December 8, which was continued in Oldenburg on December 13 and 14. The topic of both conferences was "Totalitäre Herrschaft und republikanische Demokratie" (totalitarian rule and republican democracy). The Berlin participants included: Claude Lefort, Herfried Münkler, Richard J. Bernstein, Vlasta Jalusic, Peter Wagner, Freimut Duve, Jutta Scherrer, Joachim Gauck, Sergej Kowaljew, Bronislaw Geremek, Daniel Cohn-Bendit. The Oldenburg program listed the following speakers: Antonia Grunenberg, Roy Tsao, Joachim Gmehling, Sebastian Hefti, Michael Naumann (who was replaced by Otto Kallscheuer), Jerome Kohn, Ursula Ludz, Ingeborg Nordmann, Alfons Söllner, Katja Tenenbaum. The conference ended with a panel discussion in which Zdislaw Krasnodebski, Zoltan Szankay, Joscha Schmierer, and Wolfgang Heuer participated. Nearly all papers of both events were published as "Hannah Arendt-Studien 1" at Peter Lang (Frankfurt am Main etc.) in 2003, entitled Totalitäre Herrschaft und republikanische Demokratie and edited by Antonia Grunenberg. Cf. below 1.4.
Ursula Ludz