Herzlich willkommen! Welcome!
This is the internet presence of journalist
Ilja A. Tuechter.
Born in 1971 in Osnabrueck, Ilja grew up in southwestern Germany's idyllic region Palatinate.
At age 16 he came to the United States as an AFS exchange student. He stayed in Ellinwood, Kansas, for a semester before moving to Lake Forest, Illinois, where he graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1989.
Ilja studied international politics and history in Washington, DC, at Georgetown University's renowned School of Foreign Service. As part of his studies at this Jesuit institution he spent the academic year 1991-92 at the Institut d'Études Politiques in Strasbourg, France.
He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University in 1994 with a joint Bachelor and Master of Science degree. Upon graduation he received the Jean-Labat-Medal for distinction in the advancement of the French language as well as the Russian Area Studies Certificate. His thesis explored Indo-Soviet relations, 1947-1991.
Since 1994 he has been working as a journalist for the German daily newspaper DIE RHEINPFALZ, based in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. 2007-2022 he was a member of the politics editorial team, mainly writing on United States' and Middle Eastern topics. Currently he is managing editor of the Sunday edition.
Ilja is a member of the Tönissteiner Kreis, Germany's oldest network of foreign affairs professionals. He has received awards and scholarships, among others, from the Robert-Bosch-Foundation (1998), the U.S. State Department (2004, 2016) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (2005).
Ilja is fluent in German, English, French, and Turkish.
He is married and lives with his family in the southwestern German city of Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
Copyright Ilja A. Tüchter 2023
