Museum Monday Week Six: A Little Peace from Germany

04 July 2016 at 21:00 CEST
Nicole performing at Eurovision's Greatest Hits in 2015 Thomas Hanses (EBU)
Despite entering every single Eurovision Song Contest since 1956, Germany would have to wait until 1982 to score its first victory in the competition with the song Ein bißchen Frieden (A little peace). In part six of our Museum Monday series we meet Nicole, the young singer whose simple song with a powerful message captured the hearts of the juries around Europe and arguably defined a Eurovision genre for decades to come.

The 1982 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Harrogate in the United Kingdom following Bucks Fizz's famous victory the previous year. In total 18 countries took part of which Germany's Nicole was last to take to the stage. "It was amazing, a childhood dream come true", said Nicole. Following the voting Nicole reprised her winning song in four different languages; German, English, French and Dutch. 

The 1980s can be considered to be a golden era for Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, notching up four second places as well as its first win in 1982. "The most exciting thing for me was that I went to number one in the British charts", recalls Nicole. To this day Ein bißchen Frieden remains the last Eurovision winner to top the UK singles chart. Nicole's song conveyed a message of peace, love and hope, a message that is still relevant today.