From September 1 of this year, the list of requirements will be supplemented by a special exam. Many in Germany have been very critical of its introduction. After all, to pass the test, a candidate for German citizenship must answer at least 17 out of 33 questions correctly. And for this, they need at least a minimum knowledge of the country's socio-political system and its history. Here are just a few examples: "How many federal states does Germany have?", "What are the tasks of the parliamentary opposition?", "When was the Federal Republic of Germany founded?".
The chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, Kenan Kolat, is skeptical about such a test: "I see no point in conducting such a test. Even if a foreigner memorizes all the answers, he will forget them the next day."
Opposition politicians are also critical. The Free Democrats and Greens point to the pointlessness of any rote learning. But criticism does not stop there, because the list of citizenship exam questions also includes quite difficult ones, for example: "Why did German Chancellor Willy Brandt visit the Warsaw Ghetto memorial in 1970 and kneel there?" Answer options: "He complied with the demand of the winners of World War II", "He demonstrated submission to the Warsaw Pact countries", "He said a prayer at the grave of an unknown soldier." Correct answer: "On behalf of Germany, he asked for forgiveness from Poland and Polish Jews."
The citizenship test was compiled by specialists from the Institute for Qualification in Education at Humboldt University of Berlin. Out of a thousand questions tested on five thousand people, 310 were selected. These will be used to form a combination for each individual exam. The Social Democrats, who are part of the ruling coalition in Germany, praised the fact that the current questionnaire does not address so-called "questions of conscience," but only the level of awareness of the applicant for German citizenship. The fact is that in 2006, the authorities of the federal state of Hesse compiled a test that was largely geared toward Muslim candidates. It also contained tasks that, in terms of difficulty, were quite worthy of the TV quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" For example: "What exactly did the German artist of the last century, Caspar David Friedrich, depict in the painting he painted on the island of Rügen?"
A well-known literary critic in Germany, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, stated at the time that he was not even sure if he could pass such an exam. As a result, the authorities had to develop a new version of the test - the current one. Meanwhile, the number of foreigners obtaining German citizenship is steadily declining. Last year, 126,000 foreigners became German citizens - a third less than in 2000.
In the first quarter of this year, Germany's population continued to decline. From January to March, the death rate exceeded the birth rate by 66,000. As the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden notes, as of December 2007, 82.21 million people lived in Germany.
Gleb GAVRIK.
Deutsche Welle