“All Thinking is Dangerous”: Reflecting on the Legacy of Hannah Arendt

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum invites you to an expert-led panel discussion reflecting on the legacy of historian and political philosopher Hannah Arendt.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Hannah Arendt’s publication of Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Arendt’s coverage of the trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann ignited discussions that have continued long after her death. To what degree was Eichmann – as an individual – responsible for the Final Solution? What does it mean to stress the banality of evil? How does one judge the crime of genocide?

To mark this anniversary, three local academics come together to discuss the impact of Eichmann in Jerusalem, and to explore Hannah Arendt’s political and cultural legacy.

The panellists will include experts Andrew Dean (Deakin University), Miguel Vatter (Deakin University) and Lucy Benjamin (University of Melbourne).

Image | Adolf Eichmann listens to the proceedings during his trial through a glass booth. Courtesy USHMM.

Andrew Dean is a lecturer in writing, literature, and culture at Deakin University. His most recent book is Metafiction and the Postwar Novel: Foes, Ghosts, and Faces in the Water. He is interested in the ways in which Hannah Arendt contributed to an awareness of the Holocaust in the United States.	Lucy Benjamin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne. Her current research is on questions of repair and reuse in the built environment. Her forthcoming book will explore the planetary thinking of Hannah Arendt.	Miguel Vatter is a professor of politics at Deakin University. His main areas of research are Machiavelli and the history of republican political ideas, biopolitics, and political theology. His most recent book is Living Law: Jewish Political Theology from Hermann Cohen to Hannah Arendt.