Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Germany was represented by Lale Andersen, with the song '"Einmal sehen wir uns wieder", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder" was chosen at the German national final held on 25 February.
Andersen was arguably the best-known singer yet to have taken part at Eurovision, being famous throughout Europe and beyond as the originator of "Lili Marleen", one of the most iconic songs of the Second World War. Aged 55 on the night of the contest, she was also the oldest, a record she would hold until 57-year-old Dado Topić took to the stage for Croatia in 2007.
Final
The national final was held on 25 February at the Kurtheater in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, hosted by Heinz Schenk. Thirteen songs took part, with the winner being decided by a 21-member jury. It is not known by what method the songs were scored, and only the top four placements are currently known. One of the other participants was Christa Williams, who had represented Switzerland at Eurovision the previous year.| Draw | Artist | Song | Place |
| 1 | Dieter Thomas Heck | "Was tut man nicht alles aus Liebe" ' | - |
| 2 | Friedel Hensch | "Colombino " ' | - |
| 3 | Franck Forster | "Es war ein reizender Abend" ' | 3= |
| 4 | Christa Williams | "Pedro" | - |
| 5 | Fred Bertelmann | "Ticke-ticke-tack" ' | 2 |
| 6 | Heinz Sagner | "Jeden Tag voll Sonnenschein" ' | - |
| 7 | Renée Franke | "Napolitano" | - |
| 8 | Rolf Simson | "Wer das Spiel kennt" ' | 3= |
| 9 | Ernst Lothar | "Dich hat das Schicksal für mich bestimmt" ' | - |
| 10 | Lale Andersen | "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder" ' | 1 |
| 11 | Bobby Franco | "Langsamer Walzer" ' | - |
| 12 | Peggy Brown | "Du bist meine Welt" ' | - |
| 13 | Detlef Engel | "Nach Mitternacht" | - |