"My topic today, I'm afraid, is almost shamefully topical." What is freedom, and what does it mean to us? Do we understand it only as the absence of fear and of constraints, or does freedom not rather also mean to participate in social processes, to have one's own political voice in order to be heard, recognized and finally remembered by others? And: Do we simply have this freedom, or who gives it to us, and can it be taken away again? In this essay, previously unpublished in German, Hannah Arendt traces the historical development of the concept of freedom. She pays particular attention to the revolutions in France and America. While one resulted in disaster and became a turning point in history, the other was a triumphant success and yet remained a local affair. But why? With one.