Hermann Sinsheimer Prize & Plaque
A special feature in Freinsheim is the Hermann Sinsheimer Award, which is presented every two years. This award has honoured renowned personalities from the fields of literature, journalism and theatre since 1983, the 100th birthday of Hermann Sinsheimer, who was born in Freinsheim.
The list of previous laureates reads like a "Who's Who" of the German literary and theatre scene and German journalism.
The prizewinners since 1983:
2021 Konstantin Wecker
2019 Herta Müller
2017 Navid Kermani
2015 Rafik Shami
2013 Dieter Hildebrandt
2011 Ivan Nagel
2009 Günther Rühle
2007 Peter Scholl-Latour
2005 Christa Wolf
2003 Walter Kempowski
2001 Ralph Giordano
1999 Marion Countess Dönhoff
1997 Siegfried Lenz
1995 Carola Stern
1993 Hilde Domin
1991 Marcel Reich-Ranicki
1989 Walter Jens
1987 Peter Härtling
1985 Ingeborg Drewitz
1983 Wolfgang Schwarz
The Hermann Sinsheimer Plaque
Since the 50th anniversary of the death of its namesake in 2000, the town of Freinsheim has awarded the Hermann Sinsheimer Plaque in even-numbered years to writers, literary figures or publicists who have a special connection to the Palatinate. The award winners are expressly honoured for their services to literature.
The award winners since 2000
2022 Volker Gallé
2020 Michael Werner
2018 Michael Konrad
2016 Roland Paul
2014 Arnim Toepel
2012 Hans-Peter Schwöbel
2010 Chawwerusch Theatre
2008 Gabriele Weingartner
2006 Gert Weber
2004 Michael Bauer
2002 Marliese Fuhrmann
2000 Wolfgang Diehl
Hermann Sinsheimer - his life and work
Both awards commemorate the Jewish writer, theatre critic and journalist Hermann Sinsheimer (1883 - 1950), who was born in Freinsheim.
On 6 March 1883, the well-known lawyer, journalist, theatre critic and writer Hermann Sinsheimer was born in Freinsheim. His house of birth still stands there, in Haintorstraße.
Works such as "Lived in Paradise", "Sparrow in the Cherries", "Rabbi, Golem and Emperor" or "The World of My Village" sprang from his pen. As early as 1916, the law graduate left the Palatinate and went to Munich to devote himself to theatre and literature. Starting as the director of the Munich "Kammerspiele" (a renowned theatre location), he quickly advanced to become a drama and literature critic. A few years later he was jointly responsible as editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine "Simplicissimus".
Further editorial activities took him to Berlin, Vienna and finally back to Berlin, where he wrote freelance under a pseudonym for various newspapers after 1932. After the enactment of the "Nuremberg Laws", the native of Freinsheim of Jewish descent left Germany in 1938 and fled to England via Palestine. Unlike two of his siblings, he thus escaped the Holocaust.
He died in London on 29 August 1950.
Hermann Sinsheimer never forgot his home town. In particular, the works "Lived in Paradise" and "The World of My Village" reflect stations in his home town.
The initiator of the awards was Gert Weber (1927-2010). In 2006, Weber himself was honoured for his life's work with the Hermann Sinsheimer Plaque. Klaus Bähr, who died in 2020 and was the mayor of Freinsheim for more than two decades, was a co-initiator and chairman of the jury from the beginning. In 2009, he received the Federal Cross of Merit for 60 years of political and cultural commitment.