The Freies Deutsches Hochstift (Free German Foundation) is a literary association based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany.

The Hochstift produces critical editions of literary works such as Goethe's Faust, and holds lectures, exhibitions and concerts.

The Freies Deutsches Hochstift possesses an extensive collection of books, manuscripts, letters and paintings from the period known as the Goethezeit [de] (1770–1830).

The Freies Deutsches Hochstift für Wissenschaften, Künste und allgemeine Bildung (Free German Foundation for Science, Arts and General Education) was founded on 10 November 1859,[1] the 100th birthday of Friedrich Schiller, by 56 people, most of whom were citizens of Frankfurt.

The initiator was Otto Volger, a lecturer of geology at the Senckenberg Nature Research Society from Lüneburg, who was involved in the 1848 revolution.

Volger founded the Hochstift to be a ""Bundestag" of the German spirit",[2] a place where those who held the pan-German ideas of the 1848 revolution were to find a spiritual and cultural home.

[3] This sentiment was reflected in the original seal of the association, which featured the black, red and gold colours of the Frankfurt Parliament.

[10] After the purchase of the Goethe House, the Hochstift's priorities shifted, and it began to collect books, manuscripts and art of the "Goethezeit [de]" (1770–1830).

When the Goethe University Frankfurt was founded in 1914, it took over most of the Hochstift's adult education activities,[20] leading the association to focus more on its museum and collection-related endeavours.

This campaign helped stabilised the Hochstift's finances and allowed the construction of an expanded Goethe museum, which was inaugurated by the author Thomas Mann in 1932.

In 1997, the Hochstift and Goethe Museum buildings were renovated and the "Arkadensaal", a large room for special exhibitions, lectures and concerts, was built.

[35] She has since overseen the publication of a historical-critical edition of Goethe's Faust,[36] as well as the building of the Deutsches Romantik-Museum, a museum dedicated to German Romanticism which opened in 2021.

[40] The critical edition of Goethe's Faust was created between 2009 and 2015 as a collaboration between the Freies Deutsches Hochstift and the Klassik Stiftung Weimar.