Why should academic expertise matter beyond the boundaries of the university? Universities do not exist in isolation from society. Academic knowledge, research findings, and critical thinking have a role to play far beyond lecture halls, academic journals, and disciplinary conferences. They matter in public debates, in political and social discourse, and in the everyday questions that shape how we understand the world we live in. This is at the heart of what is increasingly r

And so, the TV series Babylon Berlin has come to an end. As I watched the final episodes and saw the desperate struggle to save the republic, democracy, and the society of the 1920s unfold on screen, I found myself thinking once again that the world of that time is not all that far removed from our own. Germany was modern in the 1920s. Women had reached the right to vote in 1918. With the introduction of women’s suffrage, Germany became one of the more progressive democracies

Tiengen Last weekend, I was at one of the southernmost points of Germany. The weather was warm and summery, autumn seemed to be still weeks away, although in northern Germany it has already been knocking at the door with all its might for some time. There was no sign of wind, rain, drizzle, or cold – the people were friendly and open-minded. No one looks at you strangely when you start a conversation at a gas station. Everyone wishes you a good day or a good journey. So Germa

It is a strange phenomenon: When a war begins somewhere in the world, attention turns there almost instantly. News reports on front lines, arms deliveries and political decisions. Images of destroyed cities and fleeing people go around the world. It is analyzed, commented on, discussed. It is loud. The reporters are loud because they have to make themselves heard over the noise. War is loud because its sound is the roaring of engines, the alarms. People are loud because they

A few days ago, the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa once again became the focus of international attention. An incident that made clear within a very short time how sensitive the situation is at Europe’s southernmost external border. While Brussels held its breath and Madrid ultimately sent military security forces, one thing became clear once again: Ceuta and Melilla are far more than remote Spanish cities on the edge of Europe. The recent events in Ceuta highlighte

Part of an ongoing analytical series On the Production of Political Reality in Digital Systems Across the preceding analyses, different dimensions of contemporary public life have been examined in isolation: the transformation of memory into content, the decoupling of authority and expertise, the infrastructural role of language in shaping perception, and the acceleration of political processes within digital environments.Taken separately, these dynamics may appear as distinc

Part of an ongoing analytical series On the Production of Political Reality in Digital Systems Acceleration Acceleration in political life is often understood as a purely temporal phenomenon: things happen faster, reactions are quicker, and information circulates in shorter cycles. In this view, acceleration is primarily a matter of speed. But this interpretation underestimates the structural role that acceleration plays in shaping not only political communication, but politi

Part of an ongoing analytical series On the Production of Political Reality in Digital Systems Language often appears to function primarily as a medium of expression: a tool through which political positions are articulated, debated, and communicated. In this view, language transmits meaning that already exists prior to its articulation.However, this assumption overlooks the extent to which language does not merely transmit political meaning, but actively structures the condi

Part of an ongoing analytical series On the Production of Political Reality in Digital Systems. Authority in public discourse still appears to be anchored in familiar structures: institutions, expertise, and verifiable credentials. Universities certify knowledge, professional journalism validates information, and institutional roles signal legitimacy. However, the alignment between expertise and authority is increasingly becoming unstable within digital environments. Author

Part of an ongoing analytical series On the Production of Political Reality in Digital Systems. At first glance, political reality still appears to exist in the same way it always has: as a set of decisions, institutions, and public debates unfolding within established democratic structures. Governments legislate, parliaments negotiate, public discourse reacts.However, this understanding increasingly fails to describe the conditions under which political reality is actually p

An analytical series. An analytical series on digital knowledge, authority, language, and platform logics. Project Description This project is an ongoing analytical series examining how political reality is produced, structured, and stabilized within digital systems. It does not focus on individual political events or opinion-based commentary. Instead, it investigates the underlying conditions through which political and historical reality becomes visible, meaningful, and soc

Part of an ongoing analytical series On the Production of Political Reality in Digital Systems. At first glance, it looks like a quiet democratization of knowledge: history is everywhere now. In short videos, threads, podcasts, and AI-generated explainers. The Holocaust is summarized in TikTok clips, colonial history condensed into Instagram carousels, historical figures turned into Reels, simulations, or apparently interactive voices from the past. We have never had so much

Of crosses, kippahs, and political symbolism Who would have thought that in 2026, religion would once again — or perhaps still — play such a visible role in geopolitical debates? Not merely as a spiritual practice, but as a space of symbolic meaning and political interpretation. Whether in the historical relationship between Judaism and Christianity, the current role of religious communities in conflict zones, or the symbolic communication between states and churches: religio

There are moments in the year that don’t arrive with a date on the calendar, but with a feeling. You don’t notice them all at once—they creep in quietly. A certain smell in the air, a shift in the light, a sound you haven’t heard in months. And suddenly, without quite knowing when it happened, something has changed. For me, that moment comes not with the first warm day, not with the first blossoms, and not even with the official start of spring. It comes later—more subtly, bu

What Democracy Really Means Democracy means rule by the people. This statement, as well known as it is often misunderstood, still captures the essence of what democracies are based on: the will of the people and their right to self-determination. But the will of the people alone is not enough. Democracy extends beyond institutions and elections. It shapes political debates and the everyday lives of people living within democratic systems. In this sense, democracy is not merel

The United Nations emerged in 1945 from the conviction that the catastrophes of the first half of the twentieth century could not be prevented merely through a balance of power, but required a legally bound international order. This hope drew on ideas developed by Immanuel Kant, who in Perpetual Peace (1795) argued that a federation of states, governed by shared rules and republican constitutions, could make lasting peace possible. In the twentieth century, this line of thou

Some television segments are not simply misguided; they are revealing. They expose not just poor taste, but an underlying attitude. The segment aired on The Stefan Raab Show on January 27 belongs to this category. What was broadcast was not an unthinking provocation, but a deliberately staged piece that drew on anti-Jewish imagery and narratives—and did so knowingly, in order to generate attention. Hatred of Jews on German TV A Television Segment as a Conscious Transgression

The international order is not merely in a phase of instability. The term Zeitenwende , frequently cited in Germany, refers to a transformed security-policy reality: military capabilities and alliance commitments constitute central categories of the capacity to act politically (Schmoll, 2025). Against this backdrop, I argue that current geopolitical developments, particularly with regard to Greenland and the Arctic region, are not marginal issues. From my perspective as a Nor

An excerpt from my book Hatred of Jews-A Failure of Holocaust Education? on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. On January 27, we commemorate the victims of the Holocaust worldwide. This day not only recalls the unprecedented crimes of National Socialism, but also our responsibility to pass on knowledge, protect historical truth, and empower people to recognize and confront hatred of Jews and exclusion. On this occasion, I am making an exc

Debates about free speech in Germany often flare up where history, law, and present-day politics collide. A recent ruling by the Higher Administrative Court of Münster has done exactly that, reopening the question of what kinds of political speech a democratic state must tolerate—even when that speech targets the very existence of another state. The case touches on more than legal technicalities; it forces Germany to confront the tension between constitutional principles and