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Hannah Arendt/Martin Heidegger Paperback – October 20, 1997

by Elzbieta Ettinger (Author)

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This book is the first to tell in detail the story of the passionate and secret love affair between two of the most prominent philosophers of the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Drawing on their previously unknown correspondence, Elzbieta Ettinger describes a relationship that lasted for more than half a century, a relationship that sheds startling light on both individuals, challenging our image of Heidegger as an austere and abstract thinker and of Arendt as a consummately independent and self-assured personality.
Arendt and Heidegger met in 1924 at the University of Marburg, when Arendt, an eighteen-year-old German Jew, became a student of Heidegger, a thirty-five-year-old married man. They were lovers for about four years; separated for almost twenty years, during which time Heidegger became a Nazi and Arendt emigrated to the United States and involved herself with issues of political theory and philosophy; resumed their relationship in 1950 and in spite of its complexities remained close friends until Arendt's death in 1975. Ettinger provides engrossing details of this strange and tormented relationship. She shows how Heidegger used Arendt but also influenced her thought, how Arendt struggled to forgive Heidegger for his prominent involvement with the Nazis, and how Heidegger's love for Arendt and fascination with Nazism can be linked to his romantic predisposition.
A dramatic love story and a revealing look at the emotional lives of two intellectual giants, the book will fascinate anyone interested in the complexities of the human psyche.

Print length

152 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

October 20, 1997
Dimensions

7.42 x 5.06 x 0.4 inches
ISBN-10

0300072546
ISBN-13

978-0300072549
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Elisabeth Young-Bruehl
37
Paperback
31 offers from $7.17
Daniel Maier-Katkin
23
Hardcover
46 offers from $1.89

Editorial Reviews

Review

...succinct and straightforward... Ms. Ettinger's tale is absorbing and cruelly fascinating. She is scrupulously attentive to the known facts and unsparing in her exposure of both Heidegger's mendacity and Arendt's propensity for self-deception where the philosopher was concerned. -- The New York Times Book Review, Richard Bernstein

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press (October 20, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 152 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300072546
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300072549
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.42 x 5.06 x 0.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #630,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #528 in Philosopher Biographies
- #1,129 in Modern Western Philosophy

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Cincinnatus

Arendt: The human being

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2013

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Ordinary human beings are often dazzled at a young age by charismatic elders. Occasionally, these asymmetric relationships persist into later life. This well-researched and well-written book traces the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger from its origins at the University of Marburg to the end of Heidegger's life.

The initial impact of this book is to put meat on the bones of those ongoing abstract debates about the degree of Heidegger's culpability in supporting the Third Reich. Beyond that, this book tips the scale by showing that Heidegger was capable of seducing a young, impressionable student, ending it when he became worried about the affair's potential impact on his career, then renewing the relationship in later life when it suited his purposes. Heidegger needed Arendt's support against his critics.

Readers will come away disgusted with Heidegger, but impatient with Arendt. She does not come off as tough minded as her reputation suggests. She allowed her early infatuation with Heidegger to color what should have been a mature judgement. Driven by old loyalties, she defended Heidegger against his critics.

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cornelia

Hannah Arendt/Martin Heidegger love affair

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2013

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Excellent book, Hannah Arendt was a very sensitive woman and a great political writer. I love her passion describing the evil of the communist 's ideologyand what it represents for human kind.

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2002

The story of Arendt and Heidigger's love affair is an interesting one, and this book is interesting because it tells that story, but for no other reason. The author seems to have chosen this subject becuase she had access to the material in the archive, and not because she had anything to say about the subject. It left me feeling that, aside from a a few gossipy details, I knew no more about either person than before. Not only do Arendt and Heidigger remain elusive, Ettinger does not even seem to want to go after them! Their relationship is primerily of interest becuase of what they thought and wrote: Ettinger presents the few enough facts about their relationship in a readable style, but has no grasp of the thought of either one.
I find it impossible to agree with reviewer quoted on the back of the jacket, that this is "a most valuble book, an important record". It isn't: it's an evening's light reading. I can imagine a biographer of either figure (or a playwright or novelist, for that matter), immersed and *interested* in their work, who will really show us why their relartionship was important. (And why was a book that must of necessity include German names and words set in a typeface without umlauts? Bizarre!)

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Dr. Terrence McGarty

A Window on a Relationship

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2014

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This is the examination by Ettinger of her correspondence with Heidegger. Some have criticized her for voyeurism but the more we learn of Heidegger the more these letters are important. The relationship between the two were as lovers when he was her Professor and they remained close even after he was involved with the Nazis. The book is short and to the point. The author had a somewhat unique opportunity to examine the correspondence and it shines a light on Arendt that dramatically shows her scotoma regarding his actions before and during the War. As one learns more of Heidegger one sees him as a self justifying Germ with strong anti-Semite predilections. In a sense he "play" Arendt and she appears to fall into his trap.

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2017

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Curious coupling between these orthogonal historical figures

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ewomack

A tragically bittersweet and bizarre philosophical love story with some ominous implications...

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2016

A general law seems to exist that the more one reads about the life of philosopher Martin Heidegger, the more repulsive he becomes as a human being. The 1995 book "Hannah Arendt/Martin Heidegger" will probably exacerbate this feeling for many readers, though it also contains quite a few surprises. A philosophical bodice ripper of sorts, it outlines the deep, passionate and very bewildering relationship that unfolded between an anti-fascist Jewish woman and a fervent anti-Semitic Nazi. Both were intellectual giants of their time. Hannah Arendt became one the foremost critics of the Third Reich and Soviet-style communism with books such as "The Origins of Totalitarianism." Martin Heidegger's influence on modern philosophy, despite his nefarious Nazi past, has continued to grow to the present day. Some claim that he has even dethroned Ludwig Wittgenstein as the western world's most influential twentieth century philosopher. Opinions vary, of course.

As the small book relates, this extremely unlikely couple met in 1924 when Arendt began attending Heidegger's classes at the University of Marburg. Heidegger's mesmerizing lectures apparently had immense power over his students. A married man with children, his wife also avidly supported the Nazis, Heidegger approached the young, brilliant and beautiful Arendt and so began a lifelong affair that largely took a master and subservient form. He wooed her with letters, poetry and mostly, at first, one-sided conversation. The relationship also had a very physical dimension. She fell under his spell so completely and so helplessly that even his lies, treachery, abuse, neglect and often disgusting moral behavior couldn't break it. She defended him in writing more than once. Their mutual friend, Karl Jaspers, who had finally taken enough nonsense from Heidegger, couldn't convince Arendt to break with the transparent, manipulative and controlling megalomaniac. Heidegger's "stupid" wife, as Arendt more than once described Elfriede Heidegger, became the scapegoat for all of his flagrant flaws and vile beliefs. Arendt just couldn't give up on her beloved professor.

Heidegger also had more than one "other" woman, Elisabeth Blochmann, who the book feels probably suited Heidegger's need for interpersonal power better than the increasingly independent Arendt. He broke with Arendt in 1928 and she wrote him pleading letters. She ended up marrying twice, one short lived marriage to a student of Heidegger's followed by a much longer one. Perhaps Arendt's broken heart and revulsion in the face of Heidegger's growing antisemitism prompted her to leave Germany in 1933. He joined the Nazi party that same year and delivered a horrifying pro-Hitler rectorial address at the University of Freiburg. He then acted shamelessly towards his mentor Edmund Husserl and students who he felt didn't support the National Socialist cause enthusiastically enough. He informed on many and ruined careers and livelihoods while serving as Rector. His appalling written denunciation of Noble Laureate Hermann Staudinger would have probably ruined Heidegger forever after the war, but the letter didn't surface until long after his death. Luckily for him, beginning in 1950 he once again had Arendt as a staunch defender. Who better to defend an ostracized Nazi than a highly acclaimed Jewish woman? It's pretty easy to accuse Heidegger of having self-serving ulterior motives. They met again and an awkward trio evolved in which Heidegger urged Arendt and his wife to form a strong and lasting bond. Passionate letters and poetry once again flowed between the former lovers. Unfortunately, the two women appeared to loathe one another.

Arendt soon made a name for herself in the 1950s and her travels often led her to Germany. A stark silence fell between her and Heidegger again, probably due to Arendt's outright excoriation of National Socialism, an ideology still apparently dear to the Heideggers. Not only that, she likened Nazism to communism, which Heidegger detested. The silence continued. Arendt also reported on Adolph Eichmann's 1961 trial in Jerusalem and reflected on "the banality of evil." For some reason Heidegger decided to write Arendt in 1966, which opened up yet another phase of this ineffable relationship. This time the warm letters and personal visits persisted until Arendt's death in 1975. Elfriede even reached out to Arendt for advice on selling the manuscript for "Being and Time." Heidegger died only a few months after Arendt in 1976. Their long inscrutable relationship remains somewhat of an enigma given the personalities and situations involved. Arendt seemed to truly love Heidegger, though this morphed into a platonic love later in life. Whether Heidegger truly returned Arendt's love presents a nebulous mystery. He may have wanted to simply use her for his own ends. The book also delineates numerous occasions on which he outright lied to her, though she would have had no way of knowing at the time. As more of Heidegger's wretched past behavior has come to light, the more one wonders whether Arendt would have rejected him had she known the entire sordid tale.

One of the book's most memorable passages presents a paradox and an intellectual dilemma. Arendt and Jaspers were among the top thinkers of their day. Both dealt deeply with issues of ethics and morality. Yet, they didn't reveal all that they knew of Heidegger to the world at large, though Jaspers did eventually speak up to some extent. Their renowned studies and works seemed nearly impotent against this one forceful personality. They simply couldn't shake him, no matter how awful he became. The book concludes, rather harshly, that "their theories failed them when it came to Martin Heidegger." This has potentially disturbing implications for applied ethics as well as humanity's ability to live up to its own intellectual endeavors and beliefs. How did someone as morally repugnant as Heidegger create a vibrant, beautiful, almost miraculous philosophy that understandably and justifiably attracts numerous adherents? How did this same man also seduce some of the greatest minds of his age? There are forces at work here that undermine logic and rationality and suggest that human society may work on incomprehensible and unintelligible levels that defy the concept of civilization itself. The book raises such puzzling questions. In the end, the philosophy of Martin Heidegger continues to haunt the world's thought. It will probably haunt it for some time to come. But his life, as described in this little book, haunts the world for different and more ominous reasons. A much sought after reconciliation between his thought and his life may never occur. The more one reads, the more difficult it seems.

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Leena Kurki

Interesting book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2016

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a very interesting book and a very good, also..

Raouf Tajvidi

A Simplistic Approach to a Complex Relationship

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2020

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This book has a reductionist approach to two prominent thinkers of the 20th Century. Martin Heidegger is depicted as a cunning, manipulative, lying and self-serving Nazi philosopher and Hannah Arendt as a naive Jewish intellectual who repeatedly failed to see the true Heidegger. The book fails to explore sufficiently the complex interplay of the different dimensions of a complex relationship; i.e. emotional, psychological, historical, political, philosophical and ideological; in a very difficult period of the history of the 20th Century. Later research on the subject has refuted some aspects of the argument produced in this book. I did not find the book an enjoyable read but monotonous and boring.

Prof Dr Ellen Reinke

Unverantwortlich

Reviewed in Germany on November 18, 2015

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An kritischen Stimmen bis zu vollmundigen Verurteilungen sowohl Hannah Arendts wie Martin Heideggers ist die Diskussion ja keineswegs arm. Das Machwerk Elzbieta Ettingers schlägt jedoch alle Rekorde. Sie zeichnet einen dämonischen Charismatiker Heidegger, der sich eine junge Jüdin als Geliebte zulegt, um sie ein Leben lang unter der Fuchtel zu halten. Hannah Arendt erscheint als angeblich typisch mit einem Minderwertigkeitskoplex ausgestattete deutsche Jüdin, die den Verlockungen erliegt. Als Maß ihrer Hörigkeit sieht Eittinger die Tatsache an, daß Arendt nach dem Nationalsozialismus den Kontakt mit Heidegger nicht abbrach, der sie nun als Entlastungszeugin und Verbreiterin seines Werkes in den USA ausbeutet. Das Buch erschien bei der Yale University Press, von der man anderes erwartet hätte.
Da hilft nur eines: Zurück zur Originalliteratur. Man lese den Briefwechsel Hannah Arendt - Martin Heidegger, erschienen bei Klostermann, und bilde sich seine eigene Meinung.

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