 Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital.Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there.Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith).