Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956

Germany debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956, held on 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland. Nord- und Westdeutscher Rundfunkverband (NWRV), on behalf of ARD, organised a national final held on 1 May 1956 to determine two German entries for the contest. The results were determined by a jury panel. The songs "Das Lied vom großen Glück" by Walter Andreas Schwarz, later known as "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück", and "So geht das jede Nacht" by Freddy Quinn were selected to represent the nation. German entries performed fourth and eleventh, respectively, out of the 14 entries competing in the contest.

Background
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was formed in 1950 among 23 organisations with the aim of the exchange of television programmes. Following the formation of the EBU, a number of notable events were transmitted through its networks in various European countries, such as Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. Following this series of transmissions, a "Programme Committee" was set up within the EBU to investigate new initiatives for cooperation between broadcasters. The new European contest was subsequently approved at the EBU's General Assembly in October 1955. A planning sub-group, was subsequently formed to build out the rules of the competition. The rules of the contest were finalised and distributed to EBU members in early 1956. Per the rules of the contest, each participating country submitted two songs into the contest. Germany was subsequently included on the EBU's list of 7 countries that had signed up to partake in the contest. For the 1956 contest, NWRV held a national final to choose two German entries.

Grand Prix 1956 Eurovision
"Grand Prix 1956 Eurovision" – Schlager und Chansons was the national final held to determine the two songs that should represent Germany. It took place on 1 May 1956 at 20:00 CET (19:00 UTC) at the Großer Sendesaal of Kölner Funkhaus in Cologne and was broadcast on Deutsches Fernsehen. Initially, the final was planned to be held in Hamburg. It was produced by Nord- und Westdeutscher Rundfunkverband (NWRV), a cooperation of NDR and WDR, and directed by John Olden. The presenter was Heinz Piper. 13 songs took part in the national final. The participants were chosen upon invitation from NWRV.

Several listings magazines announced a list of 11 performers who should sing the competing compositions: Lys Assia, Eva Busch, Angèle Durand, Margot Eskens, Friedel Hensch und die Cyprys, Margot Hielscher, Bibi Johns, Rolf Baro, Walter Andreas Schwarz, Hans Arno Simon, and Gerhard Wendland. Freddy Quinn was not part of the announced list. Also not part of the list, Melitta Berg was named as a participating singer by a press report.

By the time the national final took place, Lys Assia had already been selected to represent Switzerland at Eurovision.

The artists were accompanied by the WDR Tanz- und Unterhaltungsorchester under the direction of Adalbert Luczkowski. "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" was presented under the title "Das Lied vom großen Glück" in the national final. The running order as well as the titles of the participating songs are not known for a few exceptions: A song titled "Ich bin so unmusikalisch" reportedly took part. Lys Assia performed her song 13th (and last) in the running order. There was a rumour that she sang the song "Ein kleiner gold'ner Ring" in the national final. However, this turned out to be incorrect, as she competed with this song in the Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele 1961.

Three French-speaking acts, among them Les Compagnons du zodiaque and Annie Cordy, singing in both German and French, were the interval acts.

A jury, which was watching the songs in a separate room on TV screens, decided the winning songs. It seems that the selection took place in two rounds, with a superfinal confronting a few songs chosen from the 13 entries in a first round.

The first two places were selected to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano: "Das Lied vom großen Glück", written by Walter Andreas Schwarz (first place), and "So geht das jede Nacht", written by Peter Moesser and Lotar Olias (second). The songwriters of the winning entries were only revealed after the results. A trophy, which consisted of a transparent box filled with orchids, was given to the first place. The full results of the national final are not known. The song sung by Melitta Berg was reported to have finished in third place.

There have been speculations about whether the national final actually took place: Despite the fact that the show appeared in listings magazines, none of the named participants could recall having taken part in the national final. Margot Hielscher stated that, according to her documents, she was not in Cologne on 1 May 1956 but in Berlin for filming. However, reviews and articles about the national final were published in several German print media after the final, including Süddeutsche Zeitung, Quick and Bild+Funk, giving details about the jury and the winning songs.

At Eurovision
Eurovision Song Contest 1956 took place at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland, on 24 May 1956. The order in which the countries and songs were performed was determined artistically by the Swiss broadcasters, with input and support by the musical directors from each participating country; "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" was, like in the national final, presented under the title "Das Lied vom großen Glück". It was performed fourth and "So geht das jede Nacht" was performed eleventh in the running order, both following Belgium and preceding France's two songs. Both of the German entries were conducted at the contest by Fernando Paggi.

Neither of the German songs won the contest, and the full results were not revealed and have not been retained by the EBU. In the German national final of 1982, co-presenter Rudolf Rohlinger claimed that "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" had come second. Though the full results have never been made public, the claim has been repeated several times since.

Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was televised in Germany on Deutsches Fernsehen and also broadcast live on Radio Bremen 2. Excerpts from the final in Lugano were broadcast on radio SWF2 on 18 June 1956 at 23:00 CET, and on Radio München on 30 June 1956 at 20:15 CET.