Miss Germany

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 held no beauty contests. The Nazi government prohibited them as a "Jewish-Bolshevik decadence", and instead of them publicised the election of (local) Harvest, Bloom, and Wine Queens. The government forbade Charlotte Hartmann the participation 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. In substitution, the Saar Territory which was governed by the League of Nations chose a Miss, which 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 there were held some contests, 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.

In some years, no national contests were held: The German delegates for international pageants were hand-picked out of the regional winners, without a final. So it 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:

1927-1933

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 to 1984

Note: (1) In 1979, the Miss Germany election was broadcast live on German TV for the first time.

1999/2000 : other organisers

Notes: Yvonne Wölke became Miss Berlin and participated in Miss Deutschland in 2002. – The pageant and the title of Model of Germany Productions later had to be renamed Model of Germany.

Pageants with other names

From the following competitions, certainly, only Miss Deutschland is of importance. In the inland it does not have the same prestige as Miss Germany, but compensates this, as the election always takes place (and is announced in the media) some weeks before. One can estimate the international presence of the organization by the four assigned titles for 2006.

For the other contests there are no complete data available. Also it is not always known whether they still exist. They are only shown here in order to obtain an impression how unclear the situation still is, although there is only one Miss Germany since 2000.

Model of Germany from 2000 : Model of Germany Productions (Stuttgart)

Note: The first pageant was held in the end of 1999 under the title of Miss Germany, but later had to be renamed.

Princess of Germany: Princess Entertainment & Media Group (Barby, Sachsen-Anhalt)

Princess Entertainment is successor of MGF (renamed because the title Miss Germany must not be used any longer). – The pageants concentrate on the new (eastern) lands of the Federal Republic.

Note: Mirjana Bogojevic had been elected also as Miss Germany of MGC in 2001.

Top Model of Germany: Yet-Set Corporation (Cologne)

This pageant was promoted by MGA and MGO from 1993 to 2000. In 2001, Yet-Set Corporation in Cologne claims title protection (Titelschutz) according to German law (§ 5 Abs. 3 MarkenG).

Miss Allemagne: Yet-Set Corporation (Cologne)

For this pageant Yet-Set Corporation in Cologne also claims title protection in 2001. For winners' names there are contradictory information: In 2001, both Jennifer Dietrich and Eileen Bali are named. In 2003, the pageant happened in Kiel (winner unknown). It seems to have been the last edition.

Miss pageants in the GDR

Miss DDR and predecessors (1986-1988 private events, 1990 MGC)

Note: Leticia Koffke later became Miss Germany for united Germany.

Miss World

Miss Universe

Miss International

Miss Europe