Miss Germany is a national beauty pageant in Germany. The contest was held for the first time in 1927. Since 2020 it is used to honour women with special achievements.
History In the past there were several organisations which claimed the title: In the 1920s already, German jurisdiction decided that the title Miss Germany could not be patented or registered, thus everybody was allowed to run a contest and name the winner Miss Germany. A similar decision followed in 1982. This resulted in having two titleholders in some years (as in 1928, 1931, 1953 and 1982), elected by different associations.
In 1953, the new organiser and main sponsor of the pageant, the Opal stocking industries, acquired the international franchises for Miss Europe, Miss World, and Miss Universe and built up a kind of monopoly: Other promoters could not delegate their winners to international competitions, thus such rival contests became unattractive. The election of Heidi Krüger by the daily newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost remained an exception for many years.
During the National Socialist era there were no beauty contests. The Nazi government prohibited them as "Jewish-Bolshevik decadence", and instead of them publicised the election of (local) Harvest, Bloom, and Wine Queens. The government forbade Charlotte Hartmann from taking part in the Miss Europe contest in Paris, France. She had been elected Miss Germany a few days before the beginning of the Nazi rule, and secretly took part in the pageant, nevertheless. However, the Saar Territory which was governed by the League of Nations chose a Miss, who was allowed to travel to international competitions.
In the GDR, beauty pageants were also forbidden as "degradation and exploitation of the woman by capitalism". Nevertheless, in the Eastern part of Berlin some contests were held, camouflaged as culture evenings, in the second half of the 1980s. The winners received a cake and a bouquet as a prize. In 1990, the MGC (see above) held the only official election for Miss DDR. The winner, Leticia Koffke, became the first all-German Miss Germany a few months later following reunification.
In some years, no national contests were held: the German delegates for international pageants were handpicked from the regional winners, without a final, as happened from 1972 to 1978. In 1971, the term of Irene Neumann was even extended for another year.
After the bankruptcy of the Opal company, a period of decline followed. There were no financially strong sponsors. Members of the Revolution of 1968 and feminists mobilized against the "meat-inspects". Public interest diminished. Influential organisers became not active before the end of the 1970s. The international franchises held by Opal became vacant. In 1979, Miss Germany was elected live in the German television for the first time. It was not until 1982 that the first rival contest was held again after a long interval.
Since 1985, at least two organisations run rival pageants: The MGC (Miss Germany Corporation, Oldenburg) of Horst Klemmer, compère in preliminaries and finals of the 1960s, together with his son Ralf, send their winners to the Miss World and Queen of the World pageants. After an unsuccessful lawsuit of event-manager Erich Reindl in 1982, neither MGC nor another promoter can claim protection of the title. Not before 1999, MGC succeed in having registered Miss Germany as a trade mark at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market in Alicante (Spain), and secure the exclusive rights. From 2000 on, other organisers have to pick up other titles—not only for the pageants, but also for their companies' names. In addition to Miss Germany, MGC temporarily held also Miss World Germany, German Miss World, Queen of Germany, and Beauty Queen of Germany. Moreover, there are contests for Misses Germany and Mister Germany and Miss Germany 50 plus. In 2010, it acquired the Miss Earth license -where the Miss Germany winner will take part. The Miss Germany Company holds beauty pageants from 1985 to 1991: Miss Europe 1991—Susanne Petry—came there. Not much is known about this company, besides the names of their winners. The company possibly is a predecessor of MGA. In 1991, the MGA (Miss Germany Association, Bergheim near Cologne) of Detlef Tursies run a Miss Germany pageant for the first time. The winners participate in Miss Universe, Miss International, Miss Europe, and Miss Intercontinental. In 1999, MGA transforms into MGO (Miss Germany Organisation). From 2000, they award the title Miss Deutschland, and change their name again: MGO - Komitee Miss Deutschland. Furthermore, they hold the international franchises as mentioned above. A short time before the title gains exclusivity, the situation becomes most unclear: In 1999, a third Miss Germany appears—Yvonne Wölke from Berlin. In autumn of 1999, two other organisations chose their titleholders for the year 2000—Model of Germany Productions in Mainz-Kastel (= Miss Germany No. 4), and the MGF (Miss Germany Foundation, Barby) in Magdeburg, who awards the title Miss Millennium Deutschland (from 2001, Princess of Germany).
Titleholders 1927–1933
YearMiss GermanySite of Election 1927 Hildegard Quandt Berlin 1928 Hella Hoffmann Berlin 1928 Margarete Grow Berlin 1929 Elisabeth Rodzyn Berlin 1930 Dorit Nitykowski Berlin 1931 Ruth Ingrid Richard Berlin 1931 Daisy D'ora Berlin 1932 Ruth Behnen Berlin 1932 Liselotte de Booy-Schulze Berlin 1933 Charlotte Hartmann Berlin Notes: Daisy d'Ora was a pseudonym. The real name of the 1931 winner was Daisy, Baronesse von Freyberg. – In 1935, Elisabeth Pitz from Saarbrücken participated in the Miss Europe Pageant in Paris as last German delegate before World War II. But she was not Miss Germany.
1949–1984 YearMiss GermanyRegional TitleholderSite of ElectionPlacementNotes 1949 Inge Löwenstein Miss Stuttgart Bad Homburg - 1950 Susanne Erichsen Miss Schleswig-Holstein Baden-Baden - 1951 Vera Marks Miss Bodensee Baden-Baden - 1952 Renate Hoy ? Baden-Baden Fourth Runner-upMiss Universe 1952 1953 Christel Schaack Miss Berlin Wiesbaden Top 16Miss Universe 1953 1953/54 Heidi Krüger ? Hamburg 1954 Regina Ernst Miss Bremen Baden-Baden Third Runner-upMiss Universe 1954 1955 Margit Nünke Miss Köln Baden-Baden Third Runner-upMiss Universe 1955 1956 Marina Orschel Miss Berlin Baden-Baden First Runner-up & Miss PhotogenicMiss Universe 1956 1957 Gerti Daub Miss Hamburg Baden-Baden Fourth Runner-up & Miss PhotogenicMiss Universe 1957 1958 Marlies Behrens Miss Bayern Baden-Baden Top 15Miss Universe 1958 1959 Carmela Künzel Miss Berlin Baden-Baden Top 15Miss Universe 1959 1960 Ingrun Helgard Moeckel Miss Rheinland Baden-Baden Top 15Miss Universe 1960 1961 Marlene Schmidt Miss Baden-Württemberg Baden-Baden Miss Universe 1961 1962 Gisela Karschuck Miss Hessen Travemünde UnplacedMiss Universe 1962 1963 Helga Carla Ziesemer Miss Bayern Travemünde Top 15Miss Universe 1963 1964 Martina Kettler Miss Berlin Berlin UnplacedMiss Universe 1964 1965 Ingrid Bethke Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Berlin Miss CongenialityMiss Universe 1965 1966 Marion Heinrich Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Berlin Top 15Miss Universe 1966 1967 Fee von Zitzewitz† Miss Schleswig-Holstein Berlin UnplacedMiss Universe 1967 1968 Lilian Atterer Miss Bayern Munich UnplacedMiss Universe 1968 1969 Gesine Froese Miss Bayern Munich UnplacedMiss Universe 1969 1970 Irene Neumann ? San Juan (Puerto Rico) UnplacedMiss Universe 1970 1971 Irene Neumann — term extended without election - 1972 Heidi Weber Miss Bayern appointed without election Top 12Miss Universe 1972 1973 Ingeborg Martin ? Munich Top 15Miss International 1973 1974 Monja Bageritz Miss Rheinland appointed without election - 1975 Marina Langner ? appointed without election First Runner-upMiss World 1975 1976 Monika Schneeweis† ? Baden-Baden UnplacedMiss World 1976 1977 Dagmar Winkler Miss Bayern Baden-Baden Second Runner-up & Miss PhotogenicMiss World 1977First Runner-upMiss International 1977First Runner-upMiss Europe 1978/1977 1978 Monika Greis Miss Süddeutschland appointed without election UnplacedMiss World 1978 1979 Andrea Hontschik† Miss Berlin Bremen, Studio Radio Bremen (1) Top 12Miss Universe 1979Top 15Miss World 1979 1980 Gabriella Brum Miss Berlin Berlin Miss World 1980 1981 Marion Kurz Miss Bayern Munich Top 12Miss Universe 1981 1982 Kerstin Paeserack Miss Niedersachsen Palma de Mallorca (Spain) Top 12Miss Universe 1982 1982 Monika Baier ? Nuremberg - 1983 Angela Michel Miss Franken Augsburg - 1983 Loana Radecki Miss Berlin Badgastein (Austria) Top 12Miss Universe 1983 1984 Brigitte Berx Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Bad Mondorf (Luxembourg) Top 10Miss Universe 1984 Note: (1) In 1979, the Miss Germany election was broadcast live on German TV for the first time.
From 1985: MGC - Miss Germany Corporation GmbH (Oldenburg) YearMiss GermanyRegional TitleholderSite of ElectionPlacementNotes 1985/86 Patricia Patek Miss Hessen Wangerooge Miss Metronational 1986/87 Anja Hörnich Miss Saarland Oberstdorf - 1987/88 Susann Stoss Miss Rheinland-Pfalz Bonn - Bad Godesberg Queen of the World 1988 1988/89 Nicole Reinhardt Miss Baden-Württemberg Cologne - 1989/90 Claudia Weins Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Schwäbisch-Gmünd - 1990/91 Leticia Koffke Miss Brandenburg Wesseling (near Cologne) - 1991/92 Ines Kuba Miss Berlin Oldenburg Queen of the World 1992 1992/93 Astrid Kuhlmann Miss Bayern Berlin - 1993/94 Cornelia Oehlmann Miss Baden-Württemberg Hanover - 1994/95 Beate Almer Miss Bayern Cologne - 1996 Yasemine Mansoor Miss Berlin Berlin Queen of the World 1996 1997 Sabrina Paradies Miss Norddeutschland Berlin - 1998 Michalina Koscielniak Miss LR-Kosmetik Berlin - 1999 Alexandra Phillips Miss Süddeutschland Berlin - 2000 Sandra Hoffmann Miss Mitteldeutschland Berlin - 2001 Mirjana Bogojevic Miss Hamburg Berlin - 2002 Katrin Wrobel Miss Berlin Berlin - 2003 Babett Konau Miss Schleswig-Holstein Rust - 2004 Christina Pinel (Miss Germany) Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Rust - 2005 Antonia Schmitz Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Rust - 2006 Isabelle Knispel Miss Berlin Rust - 2007 Nelly Marie Bojahr Miss T-Online Rust - 2008 Kim-Valerie Voigt Miss Norddeutschland Rust - 2009 Doris Schmidts Miss Baden-Württemberg Rust - 2010 Anne Julia Hagen Miss Berlin Rust - 2011 Anne-Kathrin Kosch Miss Thüringen Rust - 2012 Isabel Gülck Miss Schleswig-Holstein Rust - 2013 Caroline Noeding Miss Niedersachsen Rust - 2014 Vivien Konca Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Rust - 2015 Olga Hoffmann Miss Pearl.tv Rust - 2016 Lena Bröder Miss Westdeutschland Rust - 2017 Soraya Kohlmann Miss Sachsen Rust - 2018 Anahita Rehbein Miss Baden-Württemberg Rust - 2019 Nadine Berneis Miss Baden-Württemberg Rust - 2020 Leonie von Hase Miss Schleswig-Holstein Rust - 2021 Anja Kallenbach Miss Thüringen Rust - - 2022 Domitila Barros TBD Rust - - 2023 Kira Geiss TBD Rust TBD TBD 2024 Apameh Schönauer TBD Rust TBD TBD 2025 Valentina Busik TBD Rust TBD TBD
1985–1991: Miss Germany Company Miss Germany Company winner was sending to Miss Universe. YearMiss GermanyRegional TitleholderSite of ElectionPlacementNotes 1985 Anke Symkowitz Miss Baden-Württemberg Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg - 1986 Birgit Jahn Miss Bayern Darmstadt, Hesse UnplacedMiss Universe 1986 1986/87 Dagmar Schulz Miss Nordrhein-Westfalen Munich, Bavaria UnplacedMiss Universe 1987 1987/88 Christiane Kopp Miss Berlin Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia UnplacedMiss Universe 1988 1988/89 Andrea Stelzer Miss Bayern Hamburg Top 10Miss Universe 1989 1989/90 Christiane Stöcker Miss Hessen - Miss CongenialityMiss Universe 1990 1990/91 Susanne Petry Miss Saarland East Berlin (Berlin) Miss Europe 1991Miss Intercontinental 1992 1991/92 Monika Resch Miss Thüringen Cottbus, Brandenburg UnplacedMiss Universe 1992
1991–1999: MGA - Miss Germany Association GmbH (Bergheim near Cologne) Miss Germany Association GmbH winner was sending to Miss Universe.