Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny takes a closer look at one of the most fearless political writers of modern times. It originally aired on PBS as part of the American Masters series.

Arendt came of age in Germany as Hitler rose to power, before escaping to the United States as a Jewish refugee. Through her unflinching capacity to demand attention to facts and reality, Arendt’s time as a political prisoner, refugee and survivor in Europe informed her groundbreaking insights into the human condition, the refugee crisis, and totalitarianism.

Her major works, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958), Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), On Revolution (1963), and Crises of the Republic (1972) remain among the most important and most-read treatises on the development and impact of totalitarianism and the fault lines in American democracy. Arendt’s reports on the trial of Adolph Eichmann also caused a firestorm of controversy, and its impact is still felt today.

The screening will be followed by a conversation between director Jeff Bieber and Leon Botstein, President of Bard College. 

About the Speakers:
Jeff Bieber’s films and social impact campaigns have focused on the transformation of America’s identity through The Pilgrims (2015), The Jewish Americans (6-hours, 2008), Latino Americans (6-hours, 2013), Italian Americans (4-hours, 2015), and Asian Americans (5-hours, 2020).  Bieber has received two national EMMY Awards, a duPont-Columbia Award, and three Peabody Awards. As Executive Producer of Washington Week on PBS, Jeff produced nightly coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and covered the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden presidencies. His other public affairs work includes Executive Producer for Avoiding Armageddon (2003), an eight-hour series about weapons of mass destruction; America at a Crossroads(2007), a 12-hour series about America’s role post-9/11, and Korea: The Never-Ending War (2019).  Jeff Bieber Productions was created in 2022. Projects include Dante,a 4-hour series directed by Ric Burns (April 2024), The Harvest, a 2-hour film for American Experience (September 2023); Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined(September 2024);Weaving Nature (April 2024), and Hannah Arendt – Facing Tyranny (broadcast June 27, 2025 and now streaming); Projects in development include Liz Diller: Making Space for the Future for American Masters and a history of the Maryland State House, both slated for 2026. 

Leon Botstein is president and Leon Levy Professor in the Arts of Bard College. Founder of Bard High School Early College, Dr. Botstein put into practice a vision of high school as a public space where young adults, with the guidance of a college level faculty, explore their intellectual potential. He has published widely in the fields of education, music, and history and culture and is the author of several books including Jefferson's Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture, and editor of The Compleat Brahms and The Musical Quarterly. He is the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra and The Orchestra Now (TON), and conductor laureate and principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director. He is the founder and artistic co-director of the Bard Music Festival. His work has been acknowledged with awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Harvard University, government of Austria, and Carnegie Foundation. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2011.