Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt () is an award conferred by

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Germany and named after

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. 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 University of Bonn, Bonn, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, and University of Halle, Halle. As a st ...

*1948 *1949

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

*1949 Adolf Grimme *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 Natio ...

*1949

Friedrich Meinecke Friedrich Meinecke (October 20, 1862 – February 6, 1954) was a German historian with national liberal and antisemitic views who supported the Nazi invasion of Poland. As a representative of an older tradition, he criticized the Nazi regime ...

*1949 Robert M. Hutchins *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 politics. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism; he defined himself as a Christian ...

*1951 *1951 *1951 Alexander Rudolf Hohlfeld *1951

Boris Rajewsky Boris Rajewsky (; ; 17 July 1893 – 22 November 1974) was a Russian-born German biophysicist, who was one of the most influential researchers on the impact of radiation on living organisms in the 20th century. He served as Rector of the Goethe Un ...

*1951

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

*1951 Friedrich Dessauer *1951 *1951 L.A. Willoughby *1952 *1952

John J. McCloy John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and high-ranking bureaucrat. He served as United States Assistant Secretary of War, Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry L. Stims ...

*1952 Ludwig Seitz *1953

Max Horkheimer Max Horkheimer ( ; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist best known for his role in developing critical theory as director of the Institute for Social Research, commonly associated with the Frankfurt Schoo ...

*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 ...

*1954 August de Bary *1954

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

*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 Ku ...

*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 ...

*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 *1955 *1955

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American 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 advo ...

*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 ...

*1956 *1956 *1956

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (; ; August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twenti ...

*1957 *1957 Gottfried Bermann Fischer *1957 *1957 Kasimir Edschmid *1957

Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German Organ (music), organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German Baroque music, Baroque masters. Blind since h ...

*1958

Otto Bartning Otto Bartning (12 April 1883 in Karlsruhe – 20 February 1959 in Darmstadt) was a Modernist German architect, architectural theorist and teacher. In his early career he developed plans with Walter Gropius for the establishment of the Bauhaus. H ...

*1958 *1958 Helmut Coing *1958 *1958

Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...

*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

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 188817 April 1975; natively Radhakrishna) was an Indian academician, philosopher and statesman who served as the President of India from 1962 to 1967. He previously served as the vice president of ...

*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'', and a U. ...

*1959

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

*1960 *1960 *1960

Franz Böhm Franz Böhm (16 February 1895 – 26 September 1977) 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 as his father was appoi ...

*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, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

*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 initia ...

*1965

Carl Orff Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

*1966 Heinrich Troeger *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. Biography She was b ...

*1966 *1967 Carl Tesch *1967

Werner Bockelmann Werner Bockelmann (23 September 1907 – 7 April 1968) was a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, who served as the Mayor of Frankfurt between 1957 and 1964. Early life and education Bockelmann was born in Mosc ...

*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 o ...

*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 ...

*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 S ...

SJ *1978 *1979 Christoph von Dohnanyi *1979

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

*1979 *1980 Rudolf Hirsch *1980 *1980

Horst Krüger Horst Krüger (September 17, 1919 Magdeburg – October 21, 1999 Frankfurt am Main) was a List of German-language authors, German writer. His autobiography, ''A Crack in the Wall: Growing Up Under Hitler'' (original title ''Das Zerbrochene Ha ...

*1980

Fuat Sezgin Fuat Sezgin (24 October 1924 – 30 June 2018) was a Turkish scholar and researcher who specialized in the history of Science in the medieval Islamic world. He was ''professor emeritus'' of the History of Natural Science at Johann Wolfgang Goet ...

*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-servi ...

*1982 Leo Löwenthal *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 f ...

*1986

Alfred Grosser Alfred Grosser (1 February 1925 – 7 February 2024) was a German-born French writer, sociologist and political scientist. Although his Jewish family had to move from Frankfurt to France in 1933, he focused on Franco-German cooperation after Wor ...

*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 A ...

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

Dolf Sternberger Dolf Sternberger (originally ''Adolf Sternberger''; 28 July 1907 – 27 July 1989) was a German people, German philosopher and political scientist at the University of Heidelberg. Biography Dolf Sternberger was born in Wiesbaden in 1907. He is ...

*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 F ...

*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 *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 an ...

*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. N� ...

*1996 Walter Boehlich *1997 *1997

Hans-Dieter Resch Hans-Dieter or, more rarely, Hans Dieter are German masculine given names, composed of Hans and Dieter. Notable people with these names include: People named Hans-Dieter * Hans-Dieter Bader (1938–2022), German operatic tenor * Hans-Dieter Bec ...

*1998 Anja Lundholm *1998 *1998 *1999 Arno Lustiger *1999 *2000 Karl Dedecius *2000 Michael Gotthelf *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 conce ...

*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 (music), conductor and professor at University of Giessen, Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 201 ...

*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 Cologn ...

*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 Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

*2003

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

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

Eliahu Inbal Eliahu Inbal (; born 16 February 1936, Jerusalem) is an Israeli conductor. Inbal has enjoyed a career of international renown, conducting leading orchestras around the worlHe has conducted a wide variety of works. He is best known for his interpr ...

*2006 Peter Iden *2007 *2007 Thomas Bayrle *2008 E. R. Nele *2008 *2009 Peter Kurzeck *2009

Rosemarie Fendel Rosemarie Fendel (1927–2013) was a German actress 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, Jeanne Morea ...

*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, with a career in electronic music spanning over 30 years. The release of the single " Electrica Salsa" with OFF in 1986 launched ...

*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. Wor ...

*2017 *2018 *2019 Bodo Kirchhoff *2019 *2019

Max Hollein Max Hollein (born 7 July 1969 in Vienna) is an Austrian art historian and the current CEO and 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 July 2016, ...

*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), whi ...

*2020

Burkard Schliessmann Burkard Schliessmann is a German classical pianist and concert artist with an active international career. Life and career Schliessmann was born in Aschaffenburg. He attended the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and graduate ...

*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, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

*2021 Sandra Mann * 2022 * 2022 * 2023

Michel Friedman Julien Michel Friedman (; born 25 February 1956) is a German author, former Christian Democratic Union (Germany), CDU politician and talk show host. From 2000 to 2003 Friedman was vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and pres ...

* 2024 Margareta Dillinger * 2024

Bernd Loebe Bernd Loebe (born 15 December 1952) is a German music journalist and opera manager. After working as a journalist with a focus on opera and voice for the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)'', '' Neue Musikzeitung'', ''Opernwelt'' and Hessisch ...

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