re:publicast

More than 6 million people in Germany are over 80 years old – many of them are contemporary witnesses of the Nazi regime. But this generation is slowly dying out. What does this mean for our culture of remembrance? How do we remember the Shoah when no one is left to tell the story? And how can remembrance look on social media today? In this episode, Jonas Ross talks to Susanne Siegert, known as Susi. She is a journalist and the creator behind the account “keine.erinnerungskultur” (no culture of remembrance) on TikTok and Instagram, for which she received the Grimme Online Award in 2024.

Susanne talks about her engagement with the culture of remembrance, about shortcomings in public commemoration of the Shoah, and about the danger of historical revisionist content on social media platforms. 
 

Money isn't everything – but growing inequality in income and wealth around the world is threatening democracy. Money isn't everything, but financial constraints are an everyday issue for most people. Money isn't everything, but it is a crucial prerequisite for a free, healthy and self-determined life.

For decades, the ‘unconditional basic income’ has been cautiously discussed as a possible response to this situation. A fixed amount for everyone, a sum that is independent of performance or work. It is a thought experiment that is quite far removed from real political implementation. But would it even be an appropriate response?

Miriam Witz, project developer at Mein Grundeinkommen e. V. and campaign manager of the pilot project Grundeinkommen, talks about work, self-determination, well-being and finances, about the political and economic issues surrounding basic income and about the search for financial intergenerational justice in this episode of re:publicast with Jonas Ross.
 

Magdalena Pulz and Dennis Kogel are very familiar with internet phenomena. In their podcast ‘Browser History’, they have devoted each episode to a meme or hype from social networks. In this episode of re:publicast, the two journalists take us on a journey through nostalgic stories from the internet. They get to the bottom of the question of what the first meme actually was and how this now everyday word could be defined. They also discuss the lessons that can be learned from studying seemingly trivial internet phenomena – and how trends and hypes reappear in different generations with a new face.

Sexuality is a taboo subject. For generations, there has been a paradoxical relationship with this deeply human topic: many people do not want to talk about it, female sexuality is romanticised, and at the same time, sex is everywhere in films, advertising and, above all, on the internet. In the form of pornography, sex on the internet is often like a product of mass consumption. This episode with Denise Kratzenberg, co-founder of Cheex, is about new perspectives on lust, the body and visibility, about how large platforms today portray – and influence – sexuality, and whether this has to remain.

Since the collapse of the fascist regimes in Germany, Italy and later Spain, the public has tended to view fascism as a historical phenomenon that belongs to the past. Political scientist Natascha Strobl believes this is a big mistake. At a time when political rhetoric is becoming more radical, social networks are fuelling right-wing narratives and cultural warfare has become a strategy, it is worth taking a closer look at the mechanisms behind it.

In our re:publicast, we talk to the author about the ideologues of historical fascism – and why their ideas are returning in modern guise. An episode about the discomfort of the present. And about how to counter it – with knowledge, attitude and an alert eye. 

Artificial intelligence is able to write texts, generate images and, in principle, produce entire films. This episode is about the future of film production. It's about what happens when AI is not just a tool, but a co-author. When it has a say in ideas, emotions and narrative structures. Franziska Hansel is an AI filmmaker, team lead and Ethics & Bias Officer at Storybook Studios – the first production company in Europe to use AI in all stages of filmmaking. In our podcast, we talk to her about production processes and ethical pitfalls, about the difference between artificial efficiency and genuine creativity – and about a new generation of filmmakers who want to work with AI, not against it.

In the opening episode of the second season of re:publicast, we meet Oğuz Yılmaz, who became one of the most successful creators in Germany with his YouTube channel Y-Titty. He no longer stands in front of the camera himself, but fights for fair conditions in the creator economy - and against the power monopolies of large platforms. We talk to Oğuz about the golden age of YouTube - and its transformation. About how platforms are disempowering creators and what this has to do with the digital common good.