Sophie von La Roche Prize 2009 and 2011

In March 2012, the Iranian-born artist Parastou Forouhar received the Sophie von la Roche Prize: Forouhar is a woman who is known far beyond the city's borders for her politically-minded art and her advocacy of women's and human rights.

Forouhar challenges the discourse on women's and human rights with her art and literary means. With her positions, she promotes dialog between different people and cultures. She demonstrates great courage through her socio-political commitment. On her travels to Iran, she emphatically points out the unfulfilled women's and human rights. In 2011, her book "Das Land, in dem meine Eltern umgebracht wurden - Liebeserklärung an den Iran" was published. The book describes her experiences in connection with the unfinished investigation into the politically motivated murder of her parents.

Forouhar has lived in Germany since 1991 and began postgraduate studies at the HFG in Offenbach in 1992. From 1995 to 2000, she was a member of the art project "Fahrradhalle". A group of HFG graduates cooperated in the Fahrradhalle. They used rooms in Luisenstraße to exhibit their art together. The tension between working collectively and the individuality of one's own art particularly appealed to Parastou Forouhar and was the subject of her work.

Ms. Forouhar exhibited feminist art at the Berlinale in Berlin in 2001. Under the title "Moving Away", she presented exhibits at the Frauenmuseum Bonn. On an international level, Ms. Forouhar took part in the exhibition "Global Feminism" at the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 2007. In 2010, she was invited to Offenbach as a contemporary witness and artist to present her view of Iran and the role of women in the democracy movement as part of the series "Iran in Transition - Women as Actors".

The Sophie von La Roche Prize is an initiative of the "Commission for the Social Equality of Women", which was confirmed by the city council in 2008. "The prize is endowed with 1,500 euros," says Karin Dörr, Municipal Women's Representative. The Women's Office is the office of the jury for the Sophie von La Roche Prize.

SPD city councillor Grete Steiner, who has been involved in many causes, is the first Sophie von La Roche Award winner from the city of Offenbach. Born in 1944, the history, politics and social studies teacher at the Schiller School is being honored for her voluntary commitment to gender equality. Among other things, Steiner founded the Women's Energy Initiative in Offenbach in 1996, which draws public attention to the achievements and accomplishments of women with annual exhibitions and series of events.

The Sophie von La Roche Award is the result of a resolution passed by the city council in December 2008. It recognizes outstanding and innovative achievements in favour of equal rights. The prize, which is endowed with 1500 euros, will be awarded every two years from 2009. The prize can be awarded to individuals, women's projects and institutions such as clubs or associations.

The jury, chaired by city councillor Marianne Herrmann (SPD), unanimously decided to award the prize to Grete Steiner. In addition to the municipal Women's Representative and the Chairwoman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, the jury includes two public figures from Offenbach, two members of the Equal Opportunities Commission and a representative of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). Together with Professor Dr. Anette Kuhn and others, Grete Steiner co-founded the nationally renowned association "Haus der Frauengeschichte Bonn e.V." at the end of the 1980s, where she is still involved today.

At the end of the 1980s, she successfully campaigned in symposia at the Kassel University of Applied Sciences and the Hessian Ministry of Culture to reform school textbooks so that women and girls would finally be given a place and recognition for their socio-political contributions and their artistic and scientific work.

Steiner is a member of the "Cornelia Goethe Center" support group at the University of Frankfurt. In 2007, Steiner dedicated the 12th event series of the Women's Energy Initiative to the topic of "Women and Literature" and Sophie von La Roche, together with the Adult Education Center, the Women's Office and the Hess. State Center for Political Education.

"Grete Steiner is a political person, and so she has not only been a member of the city parliament for the SPD since 1988, she has also been challenged by the women's quota in her party to volunteer politically for the youth, for equal rights for girls and boys in many projects and has done so continuously for more than 30 years," says City Councillor Marianne Herrmann.

Sophie von La Roche (born December 6, 1730 in Kaufbeuren, died 1807 in Offenbach) is considered the first professional female writer of the 18th century. With her successful novel "Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim", she was one of the first women to establish herself as a freelance author, and for a time she was able to earn a living for her family by writing. With "Pomona", she founded the first German women's magazine. In detailed travelogues, she reported the experiences and observations of her travels, which took her to Switzerland, England, Holland and France, to a wide readership. She spent the last 20 years of her life in Offenbach, where she lived. Since the La Roche Year in 2007 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of her death, she has been increasingly recognized as an important woman from Offenbach. Her life's work is to be honored with the La Roche Prize.