Marc Stephan Jongen (born 23 May 1968) is a German politician (

AfD Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...

). 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 states of Germany, 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 i ...

from March 2017 to February 2019 and has been its Deputy State leader ever since. With relatively high ranks on the AfD BW state list of candidates, he got elected to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

for the first time in the 2017 federal election, again in 2021, and to the European Parliament in 2024. His seat in the Bundestag was taken by Volker Münz.

Biography

Origins

Jongen grew up in

Lana, South Tyrol Lana (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a village 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 ...

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

Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung The ''Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung'', shortened as ''Tageszeitung'', is an Italian daily regional newspaper and one of two German-language daily newspapers published in South Tyrol. Founded in 1996, it holds social liberal views as opposed to the c ...

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

, 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 German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

under

Peter Sloterdijk Peter Sloterdijk (; ; born 26 June 1947) is a German philosopher and cultural theorist. He was a professor of philosophy and media theory at and Rector from 2001 to 2015 of the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe. He co-hosted the German tel ...

, 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 Uwe Höcke (born 1 April 1972) is a German politician of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He is chair of the state branch of the AfD in Thuringia, that is classified as a right-wing extremist organization. Höcke led th ...

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

References

External links

Jongen's website
Living people 1968 births German general practitioners 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 MEPs for Germany 2024–2029 Alternative for Germany MEPs