Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt (german: Goethe-Plakette der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, links=no) is an award conferred by

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, Germany and named after

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

. The plaque was originally designed by sculptor Harold Winter. The plaque is awarded at irregular intervals to important poets, writers, artists, scientists and other personalities of the cultural life.

Recipients

*1947 *1947 *1947

Franz Volhard Franz Volhard (2 May 1872 – 24 May 1950) was a German internist born in Munich. Academic career He studied medicine at the universities of Bonn, Strasbourg, and Halle. As a student his instructors included Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger ...

*1948 *1949

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

*1949

Adolf Grimme Adolf Berthold Ludwig Grimme (31 December 1889 – 27 August 1963) was a German politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was Cultural Minister during the later years of the Weimar Republic and after World War II, during the e ...

*1949

Gerhard Marcks Gerhard Marcks (18 February 1889 – 13 November 1981) was a German artist, known primarily as a sculptor, but who is also known for his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs and ceramics. Early life Marcks was born in Berlin, where, at the age of 18, ...

*1949

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism, and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

*1949

Carl Jacob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Burckhardt (September 10, 1891 – March 3, 1974) was a Swiss diplomat and historian. His career alternated between periods of academic historical research and diplomatic postings; the most prominent of the latter were League of Na ...

*1949

Friedrich Meinecke Friedrich Meinecke (October 20, 1862 – February 6, 1954) was a German historian, with national liberal and anti-Semitic views, who supported the Nazi invasion of Poland. After World War II, as a representative of an older tradition, he criti ...

*1949

Robert M. Hutchins Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...

*1949

Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Christ ...

*1951 *1951 *1951 Alexander Rudolf Hohlfeld *1951

Boris Rajewsky Boris Rajewsky (russian: Борис Николаевич Раевский; ukr, Борис Миколайович Раєвський; 17 July 1893 – 22 November 1974) was a Russian Empire, Russian-born Germany, German biophysicist, who was one o ...

*1951

Ernst Robert Curtius Ernst Robert Curtius (; 14 April 1886 – 19 April 1956) was a German literary scholar, philologist, and Romance language literary critic, best known for his 1948 study ''Europäische Literatur und Lateinisches Mittelalter'', translated in Eng ...

*1951

Friedrich Dessauer Friedrich Dessauer (19 July 1881 – 16 February 1963) was a physicist, a philosopher, a socially engaged entrepreneur and a journalist. Friedrich Dessauer was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany. As a young man he was fascinated by new discover ...

*1951 *1951

L.A. Willoughby Leonard Ashley Willoughby (1885–1977) was a British scholar of German literature, and recipient of the Goethe Institute's Goethe Medal. Career Willoughby was Professor of German at University College London from 1931 to 1950. In 1936 together wi ...

*1952 *1952

John J. McCloy John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and a presidential advisor. He served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry Stimson, helping deal with issues such as German sa ...

*1952 Ludwig Seitz *1953

Max Horkheimer Max Horkheimer (; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist who was famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the Frankfurt School of social research. Horkheimer addressed authoritarianism, militari ...

*1953

Fritz Strich Fritz Strich (13 December 1882''Meyers Neues Lexikon.'' Bibliographisches Institut Mannheim, 1980. volume 7: Ru–Td, . – 15 August 1963) was a Swiss-German literature historian. Life Born in Königsberg, Strich was a student of Franz Muncker a ...

*1954

August de Bary August Georg Ludwig de Bary (17 February 1874, in Frankfurt am Main – 10 October 1954) was a German physician and politician in Frankurt. He served as Chief Physician at the Clementine Children's Hospital in Hospital from 1912 to 1928, and was c ...

*1954

Karl Kleist Karl Kleist (born 31 January 1879 in Mulhouse, Alsace, died 26 December 1960) was a German neurology, neurologist and psychiatry, psychiatrist who made notable advances in descriptive psychopathology and neuropsychology. Kleist coined the terms un ...

*1954

Richard Scheibe Richard Scheibe (19 April 1879, Chemnitz – 6 October 1964, Berlin) was a German artist primarily remembered as a sculptor. He trained as a painter, and taught himself to sculpt beginning in 1906. From 1925-1933 he taught at the Städelsches K ...

*1954

Rudolf Alexander Schröder Rudolf Alexander Schröder (26 January 1878 – 22 August 1962) was a German translator and poet. In 1962 he was awarded the Johann-Heinrich-Voß-Preis für Übersetzung. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Career Much o ...

*1955 *1955

Fritz von Unruh Fritz von Unruh (; 10 May 1885 – 28 November 1970) was a German expressionist dramatist, poet, and novelist. Biography Unruh was born in Koblenz, Germany. A general's son, he was an officer in the German army until 1912, when he ...

*1955

Ferdinand Blum Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

*1955 *1955

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...

*1956

Peter Suhrkamp Peter Suhrkamp (full name ''Johann Heinrich Suhrkamp''; 28 March 1891, Hatten – 31 March 1959, Frankfurt) was a German publisher and founder of the Suhrkamp Verlag. Early years Suhrkamp was a farmer’s son from Kirchhatten, some south-east o ...

*1956 *1956 *1956

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologi ...

*1957 *1957

Gottfried Bermann Fischer Gottfried Bermann, later Gottfried Bermann Fischer (31 July 1897, Gleiwitz, Silesia – 17 September 1995, Camaiore), was a German publisher. He owned the S. Fischer Verlag. Biography After serving as an officer in World War I, Bermann Fischer ...

*1957 *1957

Kasimir Edschmid Kasimir Edschmid, born Eduard Hermann Wilhelm Schmid, (5 October 1890 in Darmstadt – 31 August 1966 in Vulpera (Switzerland)) was a German expressionist writer. His work was part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1928 ...

*1957

Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters. Blind since his teenage years, he is known f ...

*1958 *1958 *1958

Helmut Coing Helmut Coing (28 February 1912 – 15 August 2000) was a German legal historian. His work focused on the history of European private law, especially in the Middle Ages, legal history in Germany and the philosophy of law. Life and career Helmut ...

*1958 *1958

Martin Buber Martin Buber ( he, מרטין בובר; german: Martin Buber; yi, מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism c ...

*1959

Veronica Wedgwood Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, (20 July 1910 – 9 March 1997) was an English historian who published under the name C. V. Wedgwood. Specializing in the history of 17th-century England and continental Europe, her biographies and narrative hist ...

*1959 Jean Schlumberger *1959 *1959 Sir

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

*1959

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

*1959

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal an ...

*1960 *1960 *1960

Franz Böhm Franz Böhm (16 February 1895, Konstanz – 26 September 1977, Rockenberg) was a German politician, lawyer, and economist. Early life Franz Böhm was born on 16 February 1895 in Konstanz. He moved along with his family in 1898 to Karlsruhe ...

*1961 *1962 Edgar Salin *1963 *1963 *1963

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical t ...

*1964

Harry Buckwitz Harry Buckwitz (13 March 1904 – 28 December 1987) was a German actor, theatre director and theatre manager. He was general manager of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt from 1951 and 1967, where he was responsible for opera and plays, and initi ...

*1965

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata ''Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Car ...

*1966

Heinrich Troeger Heinrich Troeger (4 March 1901, in Zeitz – 28 August 1975, in Bad Nauheim) was a German jurist and politician ( SPD). Life and career Troeger was born the son of a medical officer of health (''Kreismedizinalrat''). After obtaining his Abitur, ...

*1966

Marie Luise Kaschnitz Marie Luise Kaschnitz (born Marie Luise von Holzing-Berslett; 31 January 1901 – 10 October 1974) was a German short story writer, novelist, essayist and poet. She is considered to be one of the leading post-war German poets. She was born in Ka ...

*1966 *1967 Carl Tesch *1967 Werner Bockelmann *1967 Wilhelm Schöndube *1967 *1973

Kurt Hessenberg Kurt Hessenberg (17 August 1908 – 17 June 1994) was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt. Life Kurt Hessenberg was born on 17 August 1908 in Frankfurt, as the fourth and last child of ...

*1974 *1974 *1976

Albert Richard Mohr Albert Richard Mohr (1911–1992) was a German music and theatre expert. He was born in Frankfurt. He studied there at the Frankfurt University. From 1937 to 1943 he was lecturer on Music and Theatre History at the Hochschule für Musik und Da ...

*1977 *1977

Oswald von Nell-Breuning Oswald von Nell-Breuning (8 March 1890 – 21 August 1991) was a Roman Catholic theologian and sociologist. Born in Trier, Germany into an aristocratic family, Nell-Breuning was ordained in 1921 and appointed Professor of Ethics at the Sa ...

SJ *1978 *1979

Christoph von Dohnanyi Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German language, German variant of Christopher (given name), Christopher. Notable people with the given name Christoph * Christoph Bach (musician), Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician * ...

*1979

Erich Fromm Erich Seligmann Fromm (; ; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the U ...

*1979 *1980 Rudolf Hirsch *1980 *1980 Horst Krüger *1980

Fuat Sezgin Fuat Sezgin (24 October 1924 – 30 June 2018) was a Turkish orientalist who specialized in the history of Arabic-Islamic science. He was ''professor emeritus'' of the History of Natural Science at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfu ...

*1981 Wilhelm Kempf *1981 Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

*1982

Leo Löwenthal Leo Löwenthal (; 3 November 1900 – 21 January 1993) was a German sociologist and philosopher usually associated with the Frankfurt School. Life Born in Frankfurt as the son of assimilated Jews (his father was a physician), Löwenthal came of ...

*1982 *1983 *1984

Marcel Reich-Ranicki Marcel Reich-Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the fi ...

*1986

Alfred Grosser Alfred Grosser (born 1 February 1925 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German-French writer, sociologist, and political scientist. He is known for his contributions towards the Franco-German cooperation after World War II and for criticizing Israel. Ea ...

*1987

Joachim C. Fest Joachim Clemens Fest (8 December 1926 – 11 September 2006) was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor who was best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including a biography of Adolf Hitler and books about ...

*1988 *1989 Dorothea Loehr *1989 Alfred Schmidt *1989

Dolf Sternberger Dolf Sternberger (originally ''Adolf Sternberger''; 28 July 1907 in Wiesbaden – 27 July 1989 in Frankfurt/Main) was a German philosopher and political scientist at the University of Heidelberg. Dolf Sternberger is known for his concept of cit ...

*1990 *1990

Hilmar Hoffmann Hilmar Hoffmann (25 August 1925 – 1 June 2018) was a German stage and film director, cultural politician and academic lecturer. He founded the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. He was for decades an influential city councillor in Fr ...

*1991

Albert Mangelsdorff Albert Mangelsdorff (September 5, 1928 – July 25, 2005) was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics. Early life Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt on September 5, 1928, as the son of the book ...

*1992

Iring Fetscher Iring Fetscher (1922–2014) was a German political scientist and researcher on Hegel and Marxism. Fetscher was born on 4 March 1922 at Marbach am Neckar, and was brought up in Dresden. After the Second World War he studied at Tübingen and Pari ...

*1993

Willi Ziegler Willi Ziegler (born 13 March 1929 in the neighborhood of Villingen in Hungen, Hessen; died 8 August 2002) was a German paleontologist. Works In 1969, he described the conodont genus ''Protognathodus''. In 1984, with Charles A. Sandberg, he d ...

*1994 *1994

Ludwig von Friedeburg Ludwig von Friedeburg (21 May 1924, in Wilhelmshaven – 17 May 2010, in Frankfurt am Main) was a German politician and sociologist. He served as Minister for Education for the state of Hesse from 1969 until 1974. During that period he forced th ...

*1994 *1995

Emil Mangelsdorff Emil Mangelsdorff (; 11 April 1925 – 20 January 2022) was a German jazz musician who played alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet and flute. He was a jazz pioneer under the Nazi regime which led to his imprisonment. After World War II ...

*1995 *1995 *1996

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Christiane (Janni) Nüsslein-Volhard (; born 20 October 1942) is a German developmental biologist and a 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. She is the only woman from Germany to have received a Nobel Prize in the sciences. Nü ...

*1996 Walter Boehlich *1997 *1997 Hans-Dieter Resch *1998 *1998 *1998 *1999 Arno Lustiger *1999 *2000

Karl Dedecius Karl Dedecius (20 May 1921 in Łódź – 26 February 2016) was a Polish-born German translator of Polish and Russian literature.Michael Gotthelf Michael Alfred Gotthelf (born 1953 in Frankfurt) is a German entrepreneur and publicist. He is the initiator and founder of the literary prize Ludwig-Börne-Preis, the Frank Schrirrmacher foundation and the Walther Rathenau Institut, a foundation f ...

*2001

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...

*2001 *2002

Horst-Eberhard Richter Horst-Eberhard Richter (28 April 1923 – 19 December 2011) was a German psychoanalyst, psychosomatist and social philosopher. The author of numerous books was also regarded by many as the ''große alte Mann'' of the Federal German Peace moveme ...

*2002 *2002

Heiner Goebbels Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, conductor and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 2012–14. His composition ''Stifters Dinge ...

*2002

Oswald Mathias Ungers Oswald Mathias Ungers (12 July 1926 – 30 September 2007) was a German architect and architectural theorist, known for his rationalist designs and the use of cubic forms. Among his notable projects are museums in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Colo ...

*2003 *2003 Christa von Schnitzler *2003 *2003

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...

*2003

Jean-Christophe Ammann Jean-Christophe Ammann (14 January 1939 – 13 September 2015) was a Swiss art historian and curator. Life and work Born in Berlin, Ammann, son of a chemist, grew up in a German-speaking family in Fribourg. He actually wanted to become a doctor ...

*2004 *2004 *2005 Henriette Kramer *2005 *2006

Eliahu Inbal Eliahu Inbal (born 16 February 1936, Jerusalem) is an Israeli conductor. Inbal studied violin at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with Paul Ben-Haim. Upon hearing him there, Leonard Bernstein endorsed a scholarship for ...

*2006

Peter Iden Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

*2007 *2007

Thomas Bayrle Thomas Bayrle (born 7 November 1937 in Berlin) is a German sculptor, painter, graphic artist and video artist. He is known as a pop artist. Life Thomas Bayrle is the son of the painter and graphic artist Alf Bayrle and the art historian Elis ...

*2008 E. R. Nele *2008 *2009

Peter Kurzeck Peter Kurzeck (June 10, 1943 – November 25, 2013) was a German writer. Life Peter Kurzeck was born on June 10, 1943 in Tachau, Reichsgau Sudetenland, Nazi Germany. In 1946, his family moved to Germany and Kurzeck was raised in Staufenberg n ...

*2009

Rosemarie Fendel Rosemarie Fendel (1927-2013) was a German actress and director, who worked on the stage, in film, and in television. She was also a voice actress, and was the voice of notable actresses for German dubs of their work, including Elizabeth Taylor, Je ...

*2010 *2011 *2011 *2012 *2012 Mischka Popp and Thomas Bergmann *2013 *2013 *2014 *2014 *2014

Wilhelm Genazino Wilhelm Genazino (22 January 1943 – 12 December 2018) was a German journalist and author. He worked first as a journalist for the satirical magazine '' pardon'' and for ''Lesezeichen''. From the early 1970s, he was a freelance writer who became ...

*2015

Martin Mosebach Martin Mosebach (born 31 July 1951, in Frankfurt am Main) is a German writer. Biography He has published novels, stories, and collections of poems, written scripts for several films, opera libretti, theatre and radio plays. His first major non- ...

*2015

Sven Väth Sven Väth (born 26 October 1964) is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He is a three-time DJ Awards winner, and his career in electronic music spans over 30 years. The single "Electrica Salsa" with OFF launched his career in 1986. Referr ...

*2016 Bettina von Bethmann *2016

Tobias Rehberger Tobias Rehberger (born June 2, 1966) is a German sculptor, born in Esslingen am Neckar. He studied under Thomas Bayrle and Martin Kippenberger at the Stadelschule in Frankfurt am Main, where he now teaches. Work Rehberger works in the wider ...

*2017

Moses Pelham Moses Pelham (born 24 February 1971 in Frankfurt) is a German rapper, singer and producer. In 1993, together with Thomas Hofmann in Frankfurt, he started the Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt. Pelham is a member of the German band Glashaus. In 2019, ...

*2017 *2018 *2019

Bodo Kirchhoff Bodo Kirchhoff (born 6 July 1948) is a German writer and novelist. He was born in Hamburg before moving with his family to Kirchzarten in the Black Forest in 1955, which he describes as a culture shock. In addition to writing literary fiction, he ...

*2019 *2019

Max Hollein Max Hollein (born 7 July 1969 in Vienna) is an Austria, Austrian art history, art historian and the current Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He served as Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from ...

*2020

Silke Scheuermann Silke Scheuermann (born 15 June 1973, in Karlsruhe) is a German poet and novelist. She was educated in Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Paris. She is best known for her debut novel ''Die Stunde zwischen Hund und Wolf'' (The Hour Between Dog and Wolf), wh ...

*2020

Burkard Schliessmann Burkard Schliessmann is a German classical pianist and concert artist with an active international career. He attended the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and graduated with a Master's degree. He studied under several internationa ...

*2021

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

*2021 Sandra Mann

References

External links

Official WebsiteGoethe-Plakette der Stadt Frankfurt am Main
{{Authority control Awards established in 1932 German awards Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1932 establishments in Germany Culture in Frankfurt