Hannah Arendt, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
The title has always troubled me, and I said so plainly when the enlarged edition appeared.1 By insisting on "origins," it seems to disregard the last and largest part of the book, which is exclusively devoted to the elements of totalitarian movements and governments, while the first two parts on Antisemitism and Imperialism deal with those subterranean streams of modern history in which the origins of these elements may be found.2
What bothers me more than the title's failure to cover the whole book is what it implies about historical causality. I did not hold a belief in historical causality when I wrote it, and I believe in it less today. While I was writing, my intentions presented themselves to me in the form of an ever-recurring image: I felt as though I dealt with a crystallized structure which I had to break up into its constituent elements in order to destroy it.
It dawned on me eventually that I was not engaged in writing a historical book but a political book, in which whatever there was of past history would not have been visible at all without the light which the event — the emergence of totalitarianism — shed on it.3 The "origins" in the first two parts are not causes that inevitably led to certain effects; they became origins only after the event had taken place.4
The book's central claim is that totalitarianism is not merely a modern form of tyranny. Tyranny is arbitrary power wielded by one man, unrestricted by law, with fear as its principle of action.5 Totalitarianism borrows some of tyranny's instruments, but behind its politics lies an entirely new and unprecedented concept of power — one located exclusively in the force produced through organization, contemptuous of utilitarian motives, sustained by an unwavering faith in an ideological fictitious world.6
That is what makes it genuinely novel rather than a variation on forms the Greeks classified and Western thought has known ever since. The book asks whether totalitarian government has its own essence — whether there is a basic human experience which finds its political expression in totalitarian domination, an experience that has never before served as the foundation of a body politic.7
Terror, in the fully realized totalitarian regime, is not a means to an end but the actual content of the regime itself, beginning only after real enemies have been liquidated and the hunt for "objective enemies" — people who have done nothing — has begun.8 Hitler could rejoice over the extermination of Jews even in the midst of military setbacks, because that extermination was not a side effect of the war but one of the regime's genuine goals, realized under cover of it.9
That is what the book is about: understanding what kind of thing this was, so that we might see it clearly enough never to mistake it for something familiar.
I am glad of this opportunity to say a few words about the new enlarged and revised edition of The Origins of Totalitarianism. My publisher and I both agree on the curious inadequacy of the title, which, by insisting on 'origins,' seems to disregard the last and largest part of the book.Totalitarianism, p. 184
This part is exclusively devoted to the elements of totalitarian movements and governments, while the first two parts on Antisemitism and Imperialism deal with those subterranean streams of modern history in which the origins of these elements may be found.Totalitarianism, p. 184
Finally, it dawned upon me that I was not engaged in writing a historical book, even though large parts of it clearly contain historical analyses, but a political book, in which whatever there was of past history not only was seen from the vantage point of the present, but would not have been visible at all without the light which the event, the emergence of totalitarianism, shed on it.Totalitarianism, pp. 184–185
The 'origins' in the first and second part of the book are not causes that inevitably led to certain effects; rather, they became origins only after the event had taken place.Totalitarianism, pp. 184–185
Arbitrary power, unrestricted by law, wielded in the interest of the ruler and hostile to the interests of the governed, on one hand, fear as the principle of action, namely fear of the people by the ruler and fear of the ruler by the people, on the other—these have been the hallmarks of tyranny throughout our tradition.The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 500–501
The trouble with totalitarian regimes is not that they play power politics in an especially ruthless way, but that behind their politics is hidden an entirely new and unprecedented concept of power... 'idealism,' i.e., their unwavering faith in an ideological fictitious world, rather than lust for power—these have all introduced into international politics a new and more disturbing factor than mere aggressiveness would have been able to do.The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 454–455
If there is a basic experience which finds its political expression in totalitarian domination, then, in view of the novelty of the totalitarian form of government, this must be an experience which, for whatever reason, has never before served as the foundation of a body politic and whose general mood—although it may be familiar in every other respect—never before has pervaded, and directed the handling of, public affairs.The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 500–501
Only after the extermination of real enemies has been completed and the hunt for 'objective enemies' begun does terror become the actual content of totalitarian regimes.The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 459–460
Thus Hitler could rejoice even in the midst of military setbacks over the extermination of Jews and the establishment of death factories; no matter what the final outcome, without the war it would never have been possible 'to burn the bridges' and to realize some of the goals of the totalitarian movement.The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 459–460