The ministry for foreign affairs of the Freistaat Obersachsen (Free State Upper Saxony, the counterpart to Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony) got inspired by the current trend of Schnelltests and decided to require a German Naturalization test to existing citizens. It’s a language and culture speed test, also called FKK – Freistaatlicher Kultur Kenntnistest.
If you haven’t heard of Upper Saxony yet, look out for the orange state on the following map:
(source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Obersachsen)
As Upper Saxony has been making news in the last decade or so of not necessarily being migrant-friendly, the local government has taken some precautions to not worsen their already damaged reputation. To avoid any suspicions that a German naturalization test could be used to discriminate against migrants and asylum seekers and therefore be racist, the German naturalization test will soon also be requested from existing German citizens of the Freistaat.
After all, it just takes 15 mins. Who could complain about such a small gesture with such a big, embracing message? After all the German naturalization test ensures that everyone living in Upper Saxony can communicate loud and clear with all other inhabitants of the Federal Republic of Germany. That’s not always a given, you must know. Saxonians themselves suffer from exclusion due to their heavy accent still today.
An anonymous informant from the ministry of foreign affairs of Upper Saxony sent over a full version of the Schnelltest für Einwanderer (quick German naturalization test for migrants) and here are a few of the 18 questions that all those, German natives or immigrants who want to live in Upper Saxony will have to answer if the law gets established.
Would you pass the German naturalization test?
Test yourself first before jumping to the video with the answers at the bottom of this article:
1 | How do you say “good morning” in Upper Saxon dialect?
2 | How many Upper Saxony-born inhabitants does Upper Saxony have?
3 | Do you like the color blue?
4 | What do the letters AfD stand for?
a) Autonome für Demokratie (left-wing autonomous people for Democracy)
b) Arbeiterpartei für Deutschland (workers party for Germany)
c) Alternative für Deutschland (Hippies for Germany)
5 | How many cases does the Saxony dialect have?
6 | Complete the following sentence: Ausländer ____. Deutschländer ____. Use the words: gut and besser in this order.
That should suffice. It only goes uphill from here.
The Good News
As with so many laws and rules, there’s always a way around them.
If you are planning to move to Upper Saxony after the 1st of April, you will soon have to take the FKK. Luckily the German Antifa has already published a video on YouTube in which they show how to hack this test with zero effort. It’ll only take a few minutes and you’ll be ready to settle.
As you can see, the head of the ministry for foreign affairs of Upper Saxony, Michael Schmitz, didn’t even try to hide the true purpose of the FKK which is to fool you on this very particular day. Google “German customs on the first of April.”
The sad part of this “joke” is that it easily could come true. Do some research on the real “Free” State Saxony and you’ll understand. Enjoy your German learning and your love for Germany and its culture but don’t be shy to also look at the dark parts of its past and contemporary history.
And in case you are looking for a real German naturalization test, here are all the questions they could ask you in such a thing. With a bit of grinding you should be able to ace it with ease.
And maybe you are looking for work in Germany, then we have a few seriously helpful tips for you in this article of ours.