Marc Stephan Jongen (born 23 May 1968) is a German politician (AfD). From 2003 to 2017 he was a research assistant for philosophy at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe. Jongen is regarded as a "party philosopher" of the right-wing AfD, having been called "chief ideologue" or "thought leader". He was the chairman of AfD

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

from March 2017 to February 2019 and has been its Deputy State leader ever since. In the 2017 federal election he got elected to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

Biography

Origins

Jongen grew up in

Lana, South Tyrol Lana (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy. It is situated in the Etschtal (Etsch Valley) between Bolzano and Merano and at the entrance to the Ultental. The population rose to 12,566 in 2020. It is one of the thr ...

. He had Dutch nationality through his father and the Italian one through his mother.

Education

He studied economics from 1987 to 1988 at the University of Vienna. Subsequently and until 1995, he studied philosophy, indology, German history, and philosophy of science. After three months in India, he writes a master's thesis in 1996 entitled ''The essence of spiritual knowledge from the Advaita Vedanta Shri Shakaracharyas'', which was published by

Eugen Diederichs Eugen Diederichs (June 22, 1867 – September 10, 1930) was a German publisher born in Löbitz, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian Province of Saxony. Diederichs started his publishing company in Florence, Italy, in 1896. He moved on to Leipzi ...

in 1998. Between 1996 and 1999, he wrote for the Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung in

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

, and worked on a "Philosophy of Astrology". In 1999, he started a PhD at the State University for Design (HfG) of

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

under

Peter Sloterdijk Peter Sloterdijk (; ; born 26 June 1947) is a German philosopher and cultural theorist. He is a professor of philosophy and media theory at the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe. He co-hosted the German television show ''Im Glashaus: Das Phi ...

, supported by the foundation. From 2001 to 2003, he was supported by the state of Baden-Württemberg. In 2009, he obtained his PhD in philosophy and in 2011, received German citizenship.

Ideology

Stuttgarter Zeitung noted that Jongen has failed to adequately distance himself from the far-right Flügel faction of the party, led by

Björn Höcke Björn Höcke (born 1 April 1972) is a German politician and a member of Alternative for Germany (AfD). Along with Andreas Kalbitz, Höcke is the leader of the AfD's far-right "Der Flügel" faction, which the German government's Federal Offic ...

. Jongen also said that there are "differences in mentality between East and West Germany".

References

External links

Jongen's website
1968 births German general practitioners Living people Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag for the Alternative for Germany {{Germany-AFD-politician-stub