Germany was represented by

Mary Roos Mary Roos (born Rosemarie Schwab on 9 January 1949) is a German singer and actress. Biography 1949-1970 Schwab was born in Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gemütlich" as ''Die kleine Rosemarie ...

, with the song "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben", at the

1972 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1972 was the 17th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corpor ...

, which took place on 25 March in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. "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 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Before Eurovision

Ein Lied für Edinburgh

The final was held at the TV studios in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, 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.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Roos was drawn to perform first in the running order, preceding

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. 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.ESC History - Germany 1972
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Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1972

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 Eurovision