Hannah Arendt
New York at thirty-five
No English, no papers, start again
Arendt's life: arrested in Berlin 1933, the Gurs camp 1940, New York 1941; The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
New country, new language, no standing. What she had with her when she landed, what she did not, and what she did first.
What actually happened?
Arrested in Berlin in 1933, released, exile in Paris. When France fell she was interned at Gurs in the south and got out in the confusion. She reached New York in 1941: thirty-five years old, almost no English, no papers, no job. Her first move was two months living with an American family to learn the language — not job hunting. Then a column for a German-language paper for refugees, living off the fees. Ten years later The Origins of Totalitarianism appeared. The one thing she carried through that decade was a way of thinking, which requires no papers.
Language first, everything else after
Her first act in New York was two months in a household to learn English, not a job search. In a new country language is the precondition for all the rest — unable to speak, you cannot deploy any skill you have. Fix the precondition before proving yourself.
Somewhere new, make being able to communicate solid first. Everything else queues behind it.
What travels is method, not position
Her German degrees, her circle and her standing were all gone; what came with her was how she thought. That takes no luggage, needs no papers, and works on arrival anywhere. Before starting again it is worth sorting: which of my assets are position and which are method.
List them before you move: what disappears the moment you leave the seat, and what comes with you. Only the second kind is capital.
Ten years is the normal length
From landing in New York to the first major book: ten years, filled with columns, editing and scattered teaching. She did not decide in year three that she had failed. Starting from zero is a ten-year account, and people who book it as three quit in year three.
Starting over somewhere else, give yourself ten years and treat the first three as not counting.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you moved city or country, you know nobody, and none of your old standing or accumulation transfers.
Ask first: which of my assets came from the position and which from the method? Have I actually cleared the language? Is my timetable three years or ten?
Where it goes wrong: reading it as a good way of thinking is enough to start again — she still did ten years of small, hard work; and ten years is not permission to go slowly, she wrote through every one of them.
Lines to keep
The one thing she carried needed no papers: how she thought.
What disappears when you leave the seat was never yours.
Start from zero on a ten-year account, not a three-year one.
Same situation, other people are asking
Now that I'm out, I need one small thing to aim at.New country. What of mine actually came with me?New city, and I don't know a soul.I moved here and nothing comes to me.Moving somewhere new · all 10 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.