Germany was represented by mother and daughter duo Maxi and Chris Garden with the song "Lied für einen Freund", at the

1988 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Johnny Logan's win at the with the song " Hold Me Now". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

, which took place on 30 April in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. "Lied für einen Freund", written by prolific Eurovision duo

Ralph Siegel Ralph Siegel (born 30 September 1945) is a German record producer and songwriter. Siegel is one of the most notable figures at the Eurovision Song Contest, in which he has participated with 24 songs so far, among them the 1982 winner song Ein bi ...

and

Bernd Meinunger Bernd Meinunger (born 30 September 1944 in Meiningen) is a German lyricist and record producer (with Hanne Haller) who frequently works with Ralph Siegel and David Brandes. Several of his songs have represented Germany in the ''Eurovision Song ...

, was the winner of the German national final, held on 31 March. Maxi and Chris Garden had finished second in the 1987 German final.

Before Eurovision

Ein Lied für Dublin

The final took place on 31 March 1988 at the Frankenhalle in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, hosted by Jenny Jürgens. Twelve acts presented their entries live and the winner was selected by a panel of approximately 600 people who had been selected as providing a representative cross-section of the German public. Among the other participants was Cindy Berger, who had represented Germany as half of Cindy and Bert 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 ...

. One of the songs which failed to qualify for the 1988 German national final, "Das Beste" by male-female duo Duett, later became embroiled in controversy when it was entered by the same performers in the 1990 Austrian selection, which it duly won in dramatic circumstances after the female singer had appeared to faint onstage during the initial performance. When the song's previous history subsequently came to light, Austrian broadcaster

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

had no choice but to disqualify it as a clear violation of Eurovision rules, handing the 1990 Austrian ticket to original runner-up

Simone Stelzer Simone Stelzer (born 1 October 1969) is an Austrian pop singer.Austrian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. Her song "Keine Mauern mehr" was initially placed second, however, several days after the final it was discovered that winning ...

At Eurovision

On the night of the final the duo performed 11th in the running order, following

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and preceding

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. At the close of voting, "Lied für einen Freund" had received 48 points, placing Germany 14th of the 21 entries. The German jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

.ESC History - Germany 1988
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Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1988

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988

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 ...