The Lost Treasure of the Revolution
Hannah Arendt and the Revolutions of 1956, 1968 and 1989
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Hannah Arendt spoke of the Soviet empire’s crisis of legitimation astonishingly early. This far-sightedness, however, was accompanied by short-sightedness in observing contemporary events in Communist Eastern Europe. She somewhat played down the bloody events of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. She wrote about them as if she had in mind what happened only in 1989. Nevertheless, Arendt’s theoretical findings regarding the relationship of power and force are crucial for understanding the Hungarian popular uprising as well the political significance of this event in the collective memory both back in 1989 and to this day.
(Osteuropa 9/2006, pp. 85–98)