Carl Schmitt Reads Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: Archival Perspectives on Convergences and Divergences

Abstract

Scholarly interpretations have analyzed theoretical tensions and overlaps between Carl Schmitt and Hannah Arendt and Arendt's reception of Schmitt. Schmitt's engagement with Arendt, however, is left understudied. Based on new evidence from the Carl Schmitt archive, this essay provides a first-time analysis of Schmitt's reading of Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem. The article argues that Schmitt's recognition of convergences and divergences between his and Arendt's political thought illuminates two important questions concerning the relationship between law and politics: the capacity of law to capture political violence, and the character of community as a source of law and jurisdiction. The analysis specifically foregrounds Schmitt's attention to Arendt's theorization of territory and humanity, two concepts key to his own political philosophy that Arendt deployed radically differently. Overall, the article demonstrates that Schmitt's reading of Eichmann invests the book with a unique theoretical topography that remains inaccessible to studies of their published works alone.