Award of the 2011 Erich Fromm Prize To

Anne-Sophie Mutter

On Wednesday July 13, 2011, 6:00 pm in the “Weiße Saal” of the New Castle in Stuttgart

The 2011 Erich Fromm Prize, endowed with €10,000, will be presented to Anne-Sophie Mutter for her largely unknown, but very strong engagement for people in the shadows of society. The violinist, acclaimed by many as the best in the world, not only finances young musicians. Through regular benefit concerts and personal means, she facilitates the construction and upkeep of orphanages (for instance in Romania or Latvia) and handicapped facilities (especially in Southern Germany). She supports the fight against AIDS and the work of Children’s Villages and Children’s Rights Organizations. Much of this work remains intentionally anonymous and is unknown to the public.

Anne-Sophie Mutter’s demonstrated love for those on the “losing side” is unusual in a world in which only the winners count and in which the winners often have only disdain for the losers—and the reason for our public recognition. On her website, she professes to the Frommian understanding of love when she writes: The book The Art of Loving “is in no way a sex manual! It is about the love of the other. When I was expecting my first child, I was very afraid to make the same mistakes with him as my parents had with me. This book describes in a wonderful way the potential to love without being possessive.”