On Love and Tyranny

“Amo means volo, ut sis … I love you — I want you to be what you are,” Martin wrote to Hannah. The quote, attributed to Saint Augustine, is an invocation, as though he is creating her through his love.

she was openly skeptical toward the idea of universal human rights

Eighteen long years after Hannah escaped Germany, she finally became an American citizen.

Hannah’s political philosophy was shaped during her stateless years, when she existed without the rights that citizenship provides an individual.

Immorality was, quite simply, necessary to keep up morale; all those young men so far from home needed cheering up.

Society’s permissive attitude toward shorter skirts, low-cut tops, provocative dancing, and suggestive lyrics were all expressions of solidarity with the young men who had gone off to war.

the economy enjoyed a powerful upswing thanks to the sudden demand for airplanes and tanks. Even the entertainment industry saw an impact: Mickey Mouse and Superman were recruited, the Andrews Sisters entertained the American troops with swing and boogie-woogie, and Marilyn Monroe experienced her big breakthrough.

Ironically, it was the United States’ entry into the war that dragged the country out of its financial crisis.

The place they thought was theirs never really existed. “Lucky is he who has no home; he sees it still in his dreams,” Hannah wrote.

Lucky is he who has no home; he sees it still in his dreams.