Germany was represented by six-member group

Atlantis 2000 Atlantis 2000 was a short-lived German musical group, set up in Munich in 1990 by producer and singer Alfons Weindorf and composer Helmut Frey, for the purpose of entering the German Eurovision Song Contest selection in 1991. The group consisted ...

, with the song "Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben", at the

1991 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the 36th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rome, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song " Insieme: 1992" by Toto Cutugno and was organised by the European Br ...

, which took place on 4 May in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. "Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben" was the winner of the German national final, held on 21 March.

Before Eurovision

Ein Lied für Rom

The final was held at the Friedrichstadtpalast in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, hosted by

Hape Kerkeling Hans Peter Wilhelm "Hape" Kerkeling (; born 9 December 1964) is a German comedian, TV presenter, author, and actor. Career At secondary school in Recklinghausen, Hape Kerkeling and some fellow students formed a band (''Gesundfutter'', meanin ...

. Ten songs took part and the winner was chosen by a panel of 1,000 people, selected as providing a representative cross-section of the German public, who were telephoned and asked to choose their favourite song. One of the other participants was Cindy Berger, who had represented Germany at Eurovision in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

as half of duo

Cindy & Bert Cindy and Bert were a German schlager vocal duo from Völklingen, Saarland consisting of Jutta Gusenberger (born 26 January 1948) and Norbert Berger (12 September 1945 – 14 July 2012). They were most successful in the 1970s, and are known fo ...

. The choice of "Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben" was widely criticised, as many felt that not only was the song itself not particularly strong, but that also the anthemic 'peace, love and hope for the future' style of song was at the time becoming something of a Eurovision cliché (the 1990 contest had seen a plethora of such lyrically-themed entries).

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Atlantis 2000 performed 17th in the running order, following

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and preceding

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. At the close of voting "Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben" had received only 10 points, placing Germany 18th of the 22 entries, the country's lowest Eurovision finish to that date. The German jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Atlantis 2000 had been set up specifically to participate at Eurovision and following the bad result in Rome, and the song's failure to achieve significant sales success in Germany, they disbanded soon after. The show was watched by 6.28 million viewers in Germany.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1991

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...