BERLIN – The government of Germany has announced that the citizenship test for the country would now include questions related to Israel and Jewish history.
German Interior Ministry has revealed that 12 new questions related to Judaism and Israel will be included in the naturalization tests for citizenship of the country.
“From the German crime against humanity that was the Holocaust come our special responsibilities to protecting Jewish people and the state of Israel. This responsibility is a part of our contemporary identity,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was quoted as saying during an interview with SPIEGEL online.
As far as the German naturalization test is concerned, applicants are judged based on 33 questions from a bank of 300 questions. 30 of the selected questions relate to German history, politics and culture, while three specifically relate to the federal state in which the applicant resides.
The interior minister also outlined the following questions which would be added to the pool of questions:
- How many years ago did the first Jewish people live in what is now Germany?
- What is a Jewish centre of worship called?
- What do stumbling stones (Stolpersteine) commemorate?
- What is an example of antisemitic behaviour?
- What is a possible punishment for Holocaust denial in Germany?
- In which year was the state of Israel founded?
- On what legal basis was the state of Israel founded?
- Which country do the majority of Jews who currently live in Germany come from?
- In which German cities do the largest Jewish communities live?
- Who can join a Jewish Maccabi sports club?
- What are the reasons that Germany has a special responsibility for Israel?
- What statements related to Israel are forbidden in Germany?
Faeser’s announcement comes months after a decision by the Interior Ministry in Saxony-Anhalt to include a new question in its citizenship tests, in which applicants would be asked to formally declare that they “recognise Israel’s right to exist and condemn any efforts directed against the existence of the State of Israel”.
It is to be clarified that German courts are yet to decide whether the addition has a legally sound base besides the interior minister who has not made any fresh announcement in this regard.
