Simon Strauss says: "We live in times of distance. The political camps, the world's major power blocs, the city from the countryside - everything is moving away from each other. This makes it all the more important to take a closer look. Where is community still possible in the face of media-fueled self-righteousness?"

Writer and journalist Simon Strauß finds a surprising answer: in the small town. This is where people meet as counterparts, where conflicts have to be resolved and compromises found. Here you get to know democracy all over again.

Simon Strauß studied Classics and History in Basel, Poitiers and Cambridge. He is co-founder of the group "Arbeit an Europa". He completed his doctorate at the Humboldt University in Berlin in 2017. He is a writer and editor in the features section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Dr. Simon Strauß