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# Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers corresponded from 1926 for forty years, their long conversation at a distance interrupted only by Arendt's emigration
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/khanna-arendt-i-karl-iaspers-perepisyvalis-nachinaia-s-1926-goda-na-protiazhenii-soroka-let-ikh-dlitelnuiu-besedu-na-rasstoianii-na-vremia-priostanovila-lish-emigratsiia-arendt/
- Published: 2023-05-04T11:53:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:39.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Books, Observations, Science

Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers corresponded from 1926 for forty years, their long conversation at a distance interrupted only by Arendt's emigration. Pupil and teacher became, over the years, not merely each other's correspondents but good friends, and their families even grew close. Their correspondence is a genuine history of the twentieth century, a history of thought, a history of philosophising, and a veritable treasury of wisdom. It was in these letters that the words "There is no apolitical insurance against politics" were born. But I want to dwell on one remark Arendt made when she came to Basel for Jaspers's funeral. She said something so important that I usually keep it in mind in relation to certain significant people of our world: there are Jaspers's books, and in essence these books do not need us; it is we who need them, we who must read them.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_8883@04-05-2023_14-53-40.jpg)