The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), selected its entry through a national final.

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.

The national final was held on 25 February at the Kurtheater in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, hosted by Heinz Schenk.

The song featured Andersen's trademark spoken-word singing style and was also unusual for including a refrain sung entirely in French, which was legitimate as at the time the European Broadcasting Union had yet to introduce any specific rules regarding language of performance.

However "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder" failed to find much favour with the international jurors, picking up just 3 points and placing Germany 13th of the 16 entries.