All prize winners and speakers
| Year | Prize winner | Speaker | |
| 2010 | David Grossman | Joachim Gauck | |
| 2009 | Claudio MAGRIS | Karl Schlögel | |
| 2008 | Anselm KIEFER | Werner Spies | |
| 2007 | Saul FRIEDLÄNDER | Wolfgang Frühwald | |
| 2006 | Wolf LEPENIES | Andrei Plesu | |
| 2005 | Orhan PAMUK | Joachim Sartorius | |
| 2004 | Péter ESTERHÁZY | Michael Naumann | |
| 2003 | Susan SONTAG | Ivan Nagel | |
| 2002 | Chinua ACHEBE | Theodor Berchem | |
| 2001 | Jürgen HABERMAS | Jan Philipp Reemtsma | |
| 2000 | Assia DJEBAR | Barbara Frischmuth | |
| 1999 | Fritz STERN | Bronislaw Geremek | |
| 1998 | Martin WALSER | Frank Schirrmacher | |
| 1997 | Yasar KEMAL | Günter Grass | |
| 1996 | Mario VARGAS LLOSA | Jorge Semprún | |
| 1995 | Annemarie SCHIMMEL | Roman Herzog | |
| 1994 | Jorge SEMPRÚN | Wolf Lepenies | |
| 1993 | Friedrich SCHORLEMMER | Richard von Weizsäcker | |
| 1992 | Amos OZ | Siegfried Lenz | |
| 1991 | György KONRÁD | Jorge Semprún | |
| 1990 | Karl DEDECIUS | Heinrich Olschowsky | |
| 1989 | Václav HAVEL | André Glucksmann | |
| 1988 | Siegfried LENZ | Yohanan Meroz | |
| 1987 | Hans JONAS | Robert Spaemann | |
| 1986 | Władisław BARTOSZEWSKI | Hans Maier | |
| 1985 | Teddy KOLLEK | Manfred Rommel | |
| 1984 | Octavio PAZ | Richard von Weizsäcker | |
| 1983 | Manés SPERBER (erkrankt, von Grosser verlesen) |
Siegfried Lenz | |
| 1982 | George F. KENNAN | Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker | |
| 1981 | Lew KOPELEW | Marion Gräfin Dönhoff | |
| 1980 | Ernesto CARDENAL | Johann Baptist Metz | |
| 1979 | Yehudi MENUHIN | Pierre Bertaux | |
| 1978 | Astrid LINDGREN | Hans-Christian Kirsch, Gerold Ummo Becker | |
| 1977 | Leszek KOŁAKOWSKI | Gesine Schwan | |
| 1976 | Max FRISCH | Hartmut von Hentig | |
| 1975 | Alfred GROSSER | Paul Frank | |
| 1974 | Frère ROGER, Prior von Taizé | (keine Laudatio) | |
| 1973 | THE CLUB OF ROME | Nello Celio | |
| 1972 | Janusz KORCZAK (posthum) | Hartmut von Hentig | |
| 1971 | Marion Gräfin DÖNHOFF | Alfred Grosser | |
| 1970 | Alva und Gunnar MYRDAL | Karl Kaiser | |
| 1969 | Alexander MITSCHERLICH | Heinz Kohut | |
| 1968 | Léopold Sédar SENGHOR | FrançoisBondy | |
| 1967 | Ernst BLOCH | Werner Maihofer | |
| 1966 | Augustin Kardinal BEA + W.A. VISSER 'T HOOFT |
Paul Mikat | |
| 1965 | Nelly SACHS | Werner Weber | |
| 1964 | Gabriel MARCEL | Carlo Schmid | |
| 1963 | Carl Friedrich von WEIZSÄCKER | Georg Picht | |
| 1962 | Paul TILLICH | Otto Dibelius | |
| 1961 | Sarvepalli RADHAKRISHNAN | Ernst Benz | |
| 1960 | Victor GOLLANCZ | Heinrich Lübke | |
| 1959 | Theodor HEUSS | Benno Reifenberg | |
| 1958 | Karl JASPERS | Hannah Arendt | |
| 1957 | Thornton WILDER | Carl J. Burckhardt | |
| 1956 | Reinhold SCHNEIDER | Werner Bergengruen | |
| 1955 | Hermann HESSE | Richard Benz | |
| 1954 | Carl J. BURCKHARDT | Theodor Heuss | |
| 1953 | Martin BUBER | Albrecht Goes | |
| 1952 | Romano GUARDINI | Ernst Reuter | |
| 1951 | Albert SCHWEITZER | Theodor Heuss | |
| 1950 | Max TAU | Adolf Grimme |
