The twentieth century became the whole era in world history. It was the time of unexpected upheavals and tremendous changes which led to rethinking of many fundamental concepts. Meanwhile it in the 20th century the world was threatened by totalitarian states. According to the German American political philosopher and researcher H. Arendt (1906-1975), that was a radically new political regime people had not witnessed yet. Nazi-induced World War II caused questions of responsibility for Nazi acts, the existence of collective guilt of the German people, the refugees who had to look for shelter since being banished from Germany, terror and freedom in totalitarian states, and human rights. H. Arendt tried to consider all these problems in detail, being a direct participant of those the events. Her central topic of study was the phenomenon of the totalitarian state and the paradox of human rights. At the same time H. Arendt researched many associated problems: from the responsibility of citizens under totalitarian regimes to the state of lawlessness in the modern world. The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct and critically analyze the views of German American philosopher H. Arendt on the human rights paradox in the context of her basic philosophical and legal ideas, as well as the influence of H. Arendt's works on the subsequent development of theory and philosophy of law.