Germany to test aspiring citizens on customs and history

Germany is to introduce a test on German customs and history for would-be citizens in September after Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet approved the plan on Wednesday.

The Interior Ministry has presented a catalog of 310 multiple-choice questions for citizenship applicants. Would-be citizens will be presented with 33 of the questions, and will be required to answer 17 correctly.

They range from"how many states does Germany have?" through"what is the name of the current chancellor?" to"what happened on Nov. 9, 1938?" the night on which Jewish homes and businesses were attacked in a Nazi-orchestrated pogrom.

"The citizenship test requires a minimum of knowledge about Germany," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a statement."The test is fair and does not overtax anyone."