Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F051367-0012, Orden Bundespräsident Walter Scheel

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F051367-0016, Orden Bundespräsident Walter Scheel

The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange ...

honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an official decoration of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. The prize used to be given on 22 March, the anniversary of

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 tr ...

's death. Since 2009, it has been given on 28 August, the anniversary of Goethe's birth. The first awards were made in 1955. In the intervening years, through 2018, a total of 348 women and men from 65 countries have been so honored. It is not to be confused with '' Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft'' (1932–1944) and '' Goetheplakette der Stadt Frankfurt am Main''.

Recent recipients

The recent recipients are:

2021

Marilyn Douala Bell Marilyn Douala Bell is a socio-economist and current president of the cultural organisation doual'art based in Douala, Cameroon. Life Marilyn Douala-Bell was born in Cameroon in 1957. She attended college in Paris, France where she completed ...

, Socio-economist *

Toshio Hosokawa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio ''Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima'' ...

, Composer *

Wen Hui Wen Hui (birth and death years unknown), courtesy name Manji, was an official who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China. He held various positions under the Han government, including county/commandery admi ...

, Choreographer

2020

Zukiswa Wanner Zukiswa Wanner (born 1976) is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary ...

, Writer, publisher and curator *

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...

, Author * Elvira Espejo Ayca, Artist and museum director

2019

* Enkhbat Roozon, Publisher, bookseller and political journalist *

Shirin Neshat Shirin Neshat ( fa, شیرین نشاط; born March 26, 1957 in Qazvin) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and th ...

, Artist and filmmaker * Doğan Akhanlı, freelance author of novels and essays in Turkish, and a play in German

2018

* Heidi Abderhalden and Rolf Abderhalden (Mapa Teatro), Colombian theater maker *

Claudia Andujar Claudia Andujar (born June 12, 1931) is a Swiss-born Brazilian photographer and activist. Life The daughter of a Hungarian Jewish father and a Swiss mother, she was born Claudine Haas in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. She grew up in the city of Oradea ...

, Brazilian photographer and activist *

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and C ...

, Hungarian composer and conductor

2017

* Urvashi Butalia, Indian feminist and historian *

Emily Nasrallah Emily Daoud Nasrallah ( ar, إيميلي داود نصر الله) (''née'' Abi Rached; 6 July 1931 – 13 March 2018) was a Lebanese writer and women's rights activist. She graduated from the Beirut College for Women (now the Lebanese Americ ...

, Lebanese writer * Irina Shcherbakova, Russian historian and journalist

2016

* Akinbode Akinbiyi, British-Nigerian photographer * Yurii Andrukhovych, Ukrainian writer and translator *

David Lordkipanidze David Otaris dze Lordkipanidze ( Georgian: დავით ლორთქიფანიძე) (born 5 August 1964, in Tbilisi) is a Georgian anthropologist and archaeologist, Professor (2004), Dr.Sc. (2002), Corresponding Member of the Georgi ...

, Georgian anthropologist and archaeologist

2015

* Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, Syrian philosopher and writer * Neil MacGregor, British art historian and former museum director * Eva Sopher, German-Brazilian cultural entrepreneur

2014

Krystyna Meissner Krystyna Meissner (19 June 1933 – 20 February 2022) was a Polish theatre director. She founded two festivals and her awards include the Goethe Medal. She was recognised for popularising German plays and for introducing theatrical work from Ea ...

, Polish director * Robert Wilson, American director and playwright *

Gerard Mortier Gerard Alfons August, Baron Mortier (25 November 1943 – 8 March 2014) was a Belgian opera director and administrator of Flemish origin. Biography Born in Ghent, the son of a baker, Mortier attended in youth the Jesuit private school Sint-Barb ...

, (posthumously) Belgian opera director

2013

* S. Mahmoud Hosseini Zad, Persian translator of German literature. * Naveen Kishore, publisher of Seagull Books. *

Petros Markaris Petros Márkaris ( el, Πέτρος Μάρκαρης; born 1 January 1937 in Istanbul) is a Greek-Armenian writer of detective novels starring the grumpy Athenian police investigator Costas Haritos. Biography The son of an Armenian entrepreneu ...

, Greek novelist.

2012

* Irena Veisaitė * Bolat Atabayev *

Dževad Karahasan Dževad Karahasan (born 25 January 1953) is a Bosnian writer, essayist and philosopher. Karahasan was awarded with Herder Prize and Goethe Medal for his writings. In 2020, the city of Frankfurt awarded him the Goethe Prize. Early life Karahasa ...

, Bosnian writer

2011

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, ''Gazeta Wyborcza''. Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponen ...

Ariane Mnouchkine Ariane Mnouchkine (; born 3 March 1939) is a French stage director. She founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble ''Théâtre du Soleil'' in 1964. She wrote and directed ''1789'' (1974) and ''Molière'' (1978), and directed ''La Nuit Mirac ...

2010

* Ágnes Heller, Hungarian philosopher * Fuad Rifka * John Spalek

2009

Lars Gustafsson Lars Erik Einar Gustafsson (17 May 1936 – 3 April 2016) was a Swedish poet, novelist, and scholar. Among his awards were the in 2006, the Goethe Medal in 2009, the Thomas Mann Prize in 2015, and the International Nonino Prize in Italy in 201 ...

* Victor Scoradet * Sverre Dahl

2008

* Gholam Dastgir Behbud * Bernard Sobel * John E. Woods

2007

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...

* Dezső Tandori *

Kim Min-ki Kim Min-ki (; born March 31, 1951) is a South Korean singer, composer, and playwright. He is best known for his 1970 song, "Morning Dew," and for his 1994 Korean adaptation of the German musical, ''Linie 1''. Early life and education Kim wa ...

2006

* Vera San Payo de Lemos *

Giwi Margwelaschwili Giwi Margwelaschwili ( ka, გივი მარგველაშვილი ''Givi Margvelashvili''; 14 December 1927 – 13 March 2020) was a German- Georgian writer and philosopher. Born in Berlin to Georgian parents, he was raised as a Ge ...

* Said

2005

* Samuel Assefa * Ruth Klüger * Dmytro Zatonsky * Yoko Tawada * Simone Young

2004

Mohan Agashe Mohan Agashe (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian psychiatrist and actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996 in theatre. Early life Agashe was born in Bhor, Maharashtra. He studied in B. J. Medical College, Pune for his MBBS ...

* Kevin Willie *

Imre Kertész Imre Kertész (; 9 November 192931 March 2016) was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was ...

* Paul Michael Lützeler * Anatoli A. Michailow * Sergio Paulo Rouanet

2003

* Lenka Reinerová * Jorge Semprún

2002

* Werner Michael Blumenthal *

Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt (born 2 May 1928) is a French writer and translator of German origin. Biography Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt was born in Reinbek near Hamburg, into a Jewish family of magistrates converted to Protestantism. His fat ...

* Francisek Grucza * Touradj Rahnema *

Antonio Skármeta Antonio Skármeta (born Esteban Antonio Skármeta Vranicic on November 7, 1940) is a Chilean writer, scriptwriter and director descending from Croatian immigrants from the Adriatic island of Brač, Dalmatia. He was awarded Chile's National Lit ...

2001

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...

* Gerardo Marotta *

Werner Spies Werner Spies (born 1 April 1937 in Tübingen) is a German art historian, journalist and exhibition organizer. From 1997 to 2000, he was a director of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Klaus Albrecht Schröder, director of the Albertina in Vie ...

2000

Nicholas Boyle Nicholas Boyle FBA (born 18 June 1946) is an English literary critic. He is the emeritus Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He has written widely on German literature, int ...

György Konrád György (George) Konrád (2 April 1933 – 13 September 2019) was a Hungarian novelist, pundit, essayist and sociologist known as an advocate of individual freedom. Life George Konrad was born in Berettyóújfalu, near Debrecen, into a ...

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

* Sara Sayin *

George Tabori George Tabori ( György Tábori; 24 May 1914 – 23 July 2007) was a Hungarian writer and theatre director. Life and career Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father Kornél (Cornelius) was m ...

* Abdel-Ghaffar Mikkawy

Other notable recipients

20th century recipients are: *1961: :fr:Robert Minder *1963: :pl:Marian Szyrocki *1967: Peter Jørgensen *1968:

Gertrud Seidmann Gertrud Seidmann, (16 September 1919 – 15 February 2013) was an Austrian-British linguist and jewellery historian, specialising in engraved gems. Her first career was as a linguist, teaching German and applied linguistics at Battersea County ...

*1969: :nl:Cornelis Soeteman *1970: Pierre Bertaux *1973: Chetana Nagavajara *1976: Pierre-Paul Sagave, Elichi Kikuchi, Waichi Sakurai, John Asher, Ingerid Dal *1982:

Ekrem Akurgal Ekrem Akurgal (March 30, 1911 – November 1, 2002) was a Turkish archaeologist. During a career that spanned more than fifty years, he conducted definitive research in several sites along the western coast of Anatolia such as Phokaia (Foça) ...

, :de:Werner Kraft *1983:

Bruno Bettelheim Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born psychologist, scholar, public intellectual and writer who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's wor ...

*1985: Alokeranjan Dasgupta,

Johannes Edfelt Bo Johannes Edfelt (21 December 1904 – 27 August 1997) was a Swedish writer, poet, translator and literary critic. A native of Tibro, Edfelt was elected to be a member of the Swedish Academy in 1969, occupying seat No. 17. He succeeded Er ...

*1987:

Gordon A. Craig Gordon Alexander Craig (November 13, 1913 – October 30, 2005) was a Scottish-American liberal historian of German history and of diplomatic history. Early life Craig was born in Glasgow. In 1925 he emigrated with his family to Toronto, Ontar ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mo ...

, Pavica Mrazović *1988: George Mosse,

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence ...

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and died ...

*1989:

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Ki ...

*1990:

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

Thomas Messer Thomas Maria Messer (February 9, 1920 – May 15, 2013) was the director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy, for 27 years, a lon ...

, :pl:Hubert Orłowski, Eda Sagarra,

Hilde Spiel Hilde Spiel (19 October 1911 – 30 November 1990) (pseudonyms: Grace Hanshaw and Jean Lenoir) was an Austrian writer and journalist who received numerous awards and honours. Biography Youth in Vienna Hilde Spiel was born in Vienna in October 1 ...

*1991:

Leslie Bodi Leslie Bodi (1922–2015) was the foundation Professor of German and long-term head of the department (1963-1987) at Monash University. Early life and education Bodi was born László Bodi in Budapest, Hungary on 1 September 1922. His parents w ...

Jan Hoet Knight Jan Hoet (; 23 June 1936 – 27 February 2014) was the Belgian founder of SMAK (''Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst'' or Municipal Museum for Contemporary Art) in Ghent, Belgium. Biography Jan Hoet was born in Leuven, Belgium. Thr ...

, Panagiotis Kondylis,

Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Paolozzi was born on 7 March ...

, Hans Sahl *1992:

Elisabeth Augustin Elisabeth Augustin (13 June 1903 – 14 December 2001) was a German- Dutch writer. The daughter of Eduard Joseph Glaser, a Roman Catholic, and Ella Cohn, a Jew, she was born Elisabeth Theresia Glaser in Friedenau, a suburb of Berlin, and grew ...

, Karl Raimund Popper, :cs:Hugo Rokyta *1993:

Michel Tournier Michel Tournier (; 19 December 1924 − 18 January 2016) was a French writer. He won awards such as the ''Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française'' in 1967 for '' Friday, or, The Other Island'' and the Prix Goncourt for '' The Erl-King'' i ...

*1994:

István Szabó István Szabó (; born 18 February 1938) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director. Szabó is one of the most notable Hungarian filmmakers and one who has been best known outside the Hungarian-speaking world since the ...

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holly ...

*1995: Isang Yun, Hermann von der Dunk *1996:

Jan Křen Jan Křen (22 August 1930 – 7 April 2020) was a Czech historian, academic, dissident during Czechoslovakia's communist era, and a Charter 77 signatory. He specialized in the study of Czech-German relations. Biography During the 1960s, Jan Kř ...

*1997:

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super h ...

Rolf Liebermann Rolf Liebermann (14 September 1910 – 2 January 1999), was a Swiss composer and music administrator. He served as the Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera from 1959 to 1973 and again from 1985 to 1988. He was also Artistic Director of ...

*1998:

Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...

*1999:

Dani Karavan Daniel "Dani" Karavan ( he, דני קרוון, 7 December 1930 – 29 May 2021) was an Israeli sculptor best known for site specific memorials and monuments which merge into the environment. Biography Daniel (Dani) Karavan was born in Tel A ...

, Leoluca Orlando, Jiří Gruša

References

External links

* of The Goethe-Medal {{Authority control Awards established in 1955 German awards Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1955 establishments in West Germany Goethe-Institut