GOETHE PRIZE

The Goethe prize was awarded by the city of Frankfurt to Sigmund Freud on August 28, 1930 in Frankfurt-am-Main. The prize, instituted in 1927, was awarded annually on August 28, the anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The sum of ten thousand Deutsche Marks was awarded to individuals "whose creative activity served to honor the memory of Goethe." Before Freud the prize had been given to Stefan George (1927), Albert Schweitzer (1928), and Leopold Ziegler (1929).

In 1927 Heinrich Meng and Stefan Zweig had begun a promotional campaign to propose Freud for the Nobel Prize. Members of the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute (1929-1933), especially Heinrich Meng, also worked to ensure that Freud was awarded the Goethe prize. Because of his poor health, Freud, than seventy-four years old, was unable to accept the prize in person and sent his daughter Anna Freud to Frankfurt for the awards ceremony (1930d).

The award of the Goethe prize by Frankfurt in 1930 was considered by Freud to be the culmination of his public life. Discussions by the award committee appeared to idealize psychoanalysis, but in fact it was criticized. Among the adversaries of psychoanalysis there was a general refusal to accept psychoanalysis and a converse movement to idealize Goethe, which, given the regressive nature of German society of the time, was soon to become a permanent characteristic. A few years later, in 1933, Freud's writings were burned by the National Socialists in Frankfurt and in other German cities.

The reaction of the media to the award simply repeated the controversy that divided the award committee. The periodical Die Psychoanalytische Bewegung (1930), contains a review of the event in German.

Thomas PlÄnkers

See also: Freud Anna; Germany; Goethe and psychoanalysis; Meng, Heinrich.

Bibliography

Freud, Sigmund. (1930d). Letter to Dr. Alfons Paquet. SE, 21: 207-207.

Paquet, Alfons. (1930). Zum Goethepreis 1930. Rede im Südwestdeutschen Rundfunk am 28.8.1930. In Die Psychoanalytische Bewegung. p. 426-430.

Plänkers, Tomas. (1993). Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur Hölle. Zur Goethe-Preisverleihung an Sigmund Freud im Jahre 1930. Jahrbuch für Psychoanalyse. 30, p. 167-180.

——. (1996). Die Verleihung des Frankfurter Goethe-Preises an Sigmund Freud 1930. Die Sitzungsprotokolle des Goethe-Preiskuratoriums. In Tomas Plänkers, et al., Psychoanalyse in Frankfurt a. M. Zerstörte Anfänge, Wiederannäherung und Entwicklungen (p. 254-331). Tübingen: Diskord.