German Jews angry that citizenship test ignores Holocaust
So much for Aufarbeitung and Vergangenheitsbewältigung...!
Jews in Germany have denounced a new citizenship test that does not mention the Holocaust.
From September, applicants will have to correctly answer 17 of 33 questions selected from a pool of more than 300, which tackle everything from regional flags to property law.
But while potential Germans are expected to know all about taxes on pets, there is no room in the quiz for the Nazi extermination of more than six million Jews.
Stephen Kramer, of the Central Council of Jews, said the omission betrays a "strange understanding of history" while Judaism is not included on a multiple choice question about Europe's principal religions.
But while potential Germans are expected to know all about taxes on pets, there is no room in the quiz for the Nazi extermination of more than six million Jews.
Stephen Kramer, of the Central Council of Jews, said the omission betrays a "strange understanding of history" while Judaism is not included on a multiple choice question about Europe's principal religions.
The test comes amid falling numbers of applicants for German citizenship, and has been criticised as another barrier to successfully integrating immigrant communities.
Claudia Roth, of Germany's Green Party, condemned the test as a "grotesque multiple choice exam".
But Germany's interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defended it, saying it is easier than the exam for a drivers' licence.
While some questions are straightforward, like that which demands whether Germany is a dictatorship, a monarchy or a federal state, others are bizarre.
One asks whether providing newspapers free of charge is among the many duties of the German state.
The answers to several other questions have already been identified as either wrong or highly ambiguous. One question, for example, asks applicants to number the German population from choices including 82 and 78 million. The standard response is usually given as 82 million.
But the front pages of many German newspapers suggested that due to bureaucratic mix-ups the real figure could in fact be up to four million people fewer. Daily Telegraph
Click for the latest!Claudia Roth, of Germany's Green Party, condemned the test as a "grotesque multiple choice exam".
But Germany's interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defended it, saying it is easier than the exam for a drivers' licence.
While some questions are straightforward, like that which demands whether Germany is a dictatorship, a monarchy or a federal state, others are bizarre.
One asks whether providing newspapers free of charge is among the many duties of the German state.
The answers to several other questions have already been identified as either wrong or highly ambiguous. One question, for example, asks applicants to number the German population from choices including 82 and 78 million. The standard response is usually given as 82 million.
But the front pages of many German newspapers suggested that due to bureaucratic mix-ups the real figure could in fact be up to four million people fewer. Daily Telegraph
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