About JMK
My full name is Johannes Mathijs Koenraadt. I was born in the low-lying Rhine delta of the Netherlands (1980). I am a public intellectual advocating an escape from the progress trap, as well as de-urbanization and rural resistance.
Email me for collabs and interviews: mail@jmk.info
Family Background
I come from a family of sailors, farmers, millers, and pastoralists from the Catholic South of the Netherlands. Some of my relatives co-founded cooperative banks (The Farmers’ Loan Bank, later absorbed into the Rabobank) and hospitals (Saint Ignatius, Breda). My great-uncle Willem Koenraadt was vicar general of the Diocese of Breda. His standard work on fair workers’ pay still influences Dutch society today. He also invented the national system of child benefits (“kinderbijslag”) to support working-class families.
Youth and Studies
Having worked odd jobs in my youth—picking strawberries for my uncle, hauling crates of fruit at the local market, working the IT help desk at a theme park, and delivering mail—I then went to university. I paid for tuition and student housing myself by working as a car parts magazine employee and as a freelance web designer. I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Crop Sciences and then a Master of Science degree in Strategic Business Management.
Travels and Trauma
After my studies, I became an unintentional cosmopolitan and found temporary homes in Munich, Amsterdam, Budapest, London, Stockholm, Berlin, New York City, and dozens of other places, totaling a good fifteen years abroad, three of which out of a backpack.
In my twenties and thirties, I struggled intensely with the aftermath of a decade of teenage suicide attempts. Life had not given me a fair start. Traumatized, I experienced homelessness for a few years in my late thirties, drifting between hostels.
Self-Discovery
Thanks to a life of voracious reading, I became a generalist autodidact in many fields, ranging from metaphysics and psychoanalysis to sociology, history, and geopolitics. I acquired fluency in several languages, and can read half a dozen more. I frequently participated in mass open online courses such as Duke University’s courses on reason and logic, and Harvard’s Justice.
Transformation
What lay dormant in my childhood came to fruition in adulthood. Soon, I could no longer hide my gift for thinking, writing, and speaking. I overcame adult selective mutism and developed a talent for speechwriting.
In my early forties, I transformed myself, marking a clear break with my troubled past—a process I described, starting with my 2018 surrealist novella A Man Becomes His Self and ending with my 2025 dark fiction Atonement for the Shadow. Hundreds of hours of talking to guests and viewers of my livestreams helped me develop a coherent belief system.
Who I Am
I am an author, activist, and speaker. Due to the confrontation with growing diversity in Europe—which forces one to define oneself—I found out that I am a reactionary Catholic, ethnonationalist, an advocate of de-industrialization, and a proponent of the de-urbanization of the world. I oppose transhumanism and wish to defend a biological humanity.
What I Do
I host The Great Johannes Podcast and have published several books. As a public intellectual, I influence society through my writing and speaking. In my spare time, I sometimes produce electronic music as well as classical compositions for the full orchestra. To relieve stress, I exercise boxing, rollerblading, ice skating, and occasional skiing. Currently, I am learning to play the (valve) trombone.
Fun Fact
During a livestream discussion near the end of 2023, I was the spontaneous originator of the “magic soil theory”, now a household concept among the online right.
The Great Johannes Podcast
Pre-Recorded Shows (August 2022-today)
Livestream Replays (November 2023-today)
Collabs & Interviews (January 2022-today)
Briefings (December 2022-today)
Retired
Johannes Tyrannis (110 episodes, August 2019-June 2022 †)
