Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972
Germany was represented by Mary Roos, with the song "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben", at the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 25 March in Edinburgh. "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" was the winner of the German national final, Ein Lied für Edinburgh, held on 19 February. Roos would later represent Germany again in 1984.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1972 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Germany | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Ein Lied für Edinburgh | |||
| Selection date(s) | 19 February 1972 | |||
| Selected entrant | Mary Roos | |||
| Selected song | "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 3rd, 107 points | |||
| Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
Ein Lied für Edinburgh
The final was held at the TV studios in West Berlin, hosted by Karin Tietze-Ludwig and Renate Bauer. Twelve songs took part with voting done in two parts by a 10-member jury. Firstly, each jury member awarded between 1 and 5 points to each song. The votes were tallied and the four highest-scoring songs went through to the next round. Each juror then named their favourite of the remaining four.
The voting was close (4-3-3-0) and the choice of "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" was not particularly warmly received, as "Geh' die Straße" by Cindy & Bert had won the first voting round and had received the best audience reception of the twelve songs. Roos herself expressed surprise at the victory, saying that she had assumed she had lost after the initial voting, and was returning to her dressing room to remove her make-up when she was declared the winner.[1]
| First Round – 19 February 1972 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song (English translation) | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
| 1 | Edina Pop | "Meine Liebe will ich dir geben" (I want to give my love to you) | Ralph Siegel, Fred Weyrich | 27 | 6 |
| 2 | Teddy Parker | "Ich setze auf Dich" (I put my hopes on you) | Teddy Parker, Kurt Hertha | 18 | 11 |
| 3 | Olivia Molina | "Die größte Manege der Welt" (Believe in yourself) | Erich Becht, Kurt Feltz | 20 | 9 |
| 4 | Cindy & Bert | "Geh' die Straße" (Go the street) | Werner Scharfenberger, Kurt Feltz | 41 | 1 |
| 5 | Marion Maerz | "Hallelujah Man" | Klaus Doldinger, Karlheinz Frynik | 30 | 5 |
| 6 | Adrian Wolf | "Mein Geschenk an Dich" (My present to you) | Ralph Siegel, Fred Weyrich | 13 | 12 |
| 7 | Su Kramer | "Glaub an Dich selbst" (Believe in yourself) | Rudi Bauer, Gerd Thumser | 38 | 3 |
| 8 | Inga & Wolf | "Gute Nacht Freunde" (Good night, friends) | Reinhard Mey | 38 | 3 |
| 9 | Sandra | "Das Leben beginnt jeden Tag" (Life starts everyday) | Hans Blum, Kurt Hertha | 27 | 6 |
| 10 | Sven Jensen | "Grenzenlos" (Boundless) | Günter Tilgert, Heinz Korn | 19 | 10 |
| 11 | Mary Roos | "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" (Only love lets us live) | Joachim Heider, Joachim Relin | 40 | 2 |
| 12 | Peter Horton | "Wann kommt der Morgen" (When will the morning come) | Günter Engelhardt, Carl J. Schäuble | 27 | 6 |
| Detailed Jury Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | E. Hilliges | C. Kneisel | C. Eder | W. Lau | E. Natzke | E. Böhmer | H. Hirschmann | C. Striegler | H. Wernstedt | E. Zalud | Total |
| 1 | "Meine Liebe will ich dir geben" | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 27 |
| 2 | "Ich setze auf Dich" | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | "Die größte Manege der Welt" | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 4 | "Geh' die Straße" | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 41 |
| 5 | "Hallelujah Man" | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 30 |
| 6 | "Mein Geschenk an Dich" | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| 7 | "Glaub an Dich selbst" | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 38 |
| 8 | "Gute Nacht Freunde" | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 38 |
| 9 | "Das Leben beginnt jeden Tag" | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 27 |
| 10 | "Grenzenlos" | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| 11 | "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 40 |
| 12 | "Wann kommt der Morgen" | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 27 |
| Second Round – 19 February 1972 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | E. Hilliges | C. Kneisel | C. Eder | W. Lau | E. Natzke | E. Böhmer | H. Hirschmann | C. Striegler | H. Wernstedt | E. Zalud | Total | Place |
| 1 | Cindy & Bert | "Geh' die Straße" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| 2 | Su Kramer | "Glaub an Dich selbst" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| 3 | Inga & Wolf | "Gute Nacht Freunde" | 0 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Mary Roos | "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Roos was drawn to perform first in the running order, preceding France. At the close of voting "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" had received 107 points, placing Germany third of the 18 entries, the third consecutive contest in which Germany finished in third place.[2]
Points awarded to Germany
| Points awarded to Germany[3] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 points | 9 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
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Points awarded by Germany[3]
| 10 points | |
| 9 points |  Luxembourg |
| 8 points |  United Kingdom |
| 7 points |  Spain.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Yugoslavia |
| 6 points |  Austria Netherlands |
| 5 points |  France Sweden |
| 4 points |  Finland Ireland Italy Monaco Norway Switzerland |
| 3 points |  Malta Portugal |
| 2 points | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Belgium |