Let's go !
EASY (34 points)1. Name the current chancellor and his/her party. (2 points)Angela Merkel, CDU (right-wing)
2. As a federal republic, Germany comprises subdivisions called Länder. How many of them exist? Also name the largest and the smallest by population, if you can (3)16 Länder (of which 3 autonomous cities-or-however-they-are-called). The biggest is... Lower Saxony ? And the smallest must be Saarland ?
3. What is the German federal parliament called? (1)The Bundestag
4. Name all eight German chancellors since 1949 and their party affiliation. (
Konrad Adenauer (CDU)
Ludwig Ehrart (CDU)
Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU)
Willy Brandt (SPD)
Helmut Schmidt (SPD)
Helmut Kohl (CDU)
Gehrard Schröder (SPD)
Angela Merkel (CDU)
5. Currently, six parties hold seats in the German federal parliament. Name them. (3)Die Linke
SPD
Alliance 90/The Greens
FDP
CDU
CSU (bavarian equivalent of the CDU)
6. Which parties have formed the German federal government from 1998-2005, which from 2005-2009, and which do since 2009? (3)1998-2005 : SPD (senior member), Greens (junior member), aka "red-green coalition"
2005-2009 : CDU-CSU (senior member), SPD (junior member), aka "grand coalition"
2009-... : CDU-CSU (senior member), FDP (junior member), aka "black-yellow coalition"
7. Name four parties that gained more than 5% of the vote in at least two elections during the Weimar republic era. (4)Isn't it pretty redundant with question 5 ? Well, CDU, SPD, FDP, the Greens.
8. Who were Konrad Adenauer, Rosa Luxemburg, Paul von Hindenburg and Hermann Göring? (4)Konrad Adenauer : 1st Chancellor of the German Federal Republic (founded in 1949 in the german areas occupied by western armies).
Rosa Luxemburg : Communist leader in the early days of the Weimar Republic. She was executed followed the failed "spartakist revolution".
Paul von Hindenburg : An Imperial General during World War 1, he was later elected President of the Weimar Republic against Hitler. He was more or less forced to appoint Hitler chancellor in 1933. The next year, he died and the 3rd Reich was established.
Herman Göring : One of the dignitaries of the 3rd Reich, he was designed as Hitler's successor. He was sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trial, but committed suicide in his jail.
9. What happened on July the 20th, 1944? (1)Eh, no idea. Maybe one of Hitler's failed assassination attepts ?
10. Which party gained the most votes in all federal elections in Germany from 1919 to July 1932? (1)Dunno... The SPD ?
11. In German political discourse, parties are often connected with colors. What color/colors refer to which party/parties? (4)CDU : black
SPD : red
FDP : yellow
Greens : guess...
Linke : red too, even though they are often pink in some diagrams.
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INTERMEDIATE (33)1. In the 2009 federal elections, two parties got more than 1%, but less than 5% of the vote. Which? (2)The NPD (far-right) and the Pirate Party (lulz)
2. Which German party was – except for one short interregnum of about two weeks - part of every national government between 1969 and 1998? (1)The FDP.
3. How is the German federal parliament elected? Explain the voting system, roughly. (3)Half of MPs (roughly) are elected through single-round FPP in uninominal constituencies (1st vote). The other half is elected in party lists (2nd vote), through compensatory PR. Ie, the list seats are allotted in the way to ensure that the overall composition of the parliament is proportional to second votes. Only parties getting over 5% access to Parliamentary representation.
4. Name the ten German Federal Presidents since 1949 (10)The current one is Christian Wulf (CDU), and his predecessor was Hörst Köhler (CDU). Other than that, no idea.
5. In the 2009 federal elections, the SPD remained the strongest party in only one state. In which one? (1)Saarland ?
6. Which German chancellor was nicknamed Birne (Pear)? (1)Dunno... Kohl ?
7. Name four parties that gained more than 5% of the vote in at least two elections during the German Empire 1871-1918. (4)The SPD... Otherwise no idea.
8. Who were Friedrich Ebert, Gustav Stresemann, August Bebel and Kurt-Georg Kiesinger? (4)They were all Chancellors. The first two in the Weimar Republic, the last one after WW2 and no idea for Bebel.
9. What happened on August the 13th, 1961? (1)The Building of the Berlin Wall ?
10. Since 1945, the best result a party ever gained in any state election in Germany was 64,5%. Which party won so many votes, in what state, and in what year? (3) The CSU in Bavaria, certainly.
No idea of the date.
11.Who said “We want to dare more democracy”? (3)No idea. Willy Brandt ?
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Hard (33 points)1. Only three times since 1949, the SPD gained more votes than the CDU/CSU in a federal election. Name the three election years. (3)Hum... 1969, 1972 and 1998 ?
2. What electoral system was used for the Reichstag
elections in the German Empire 1871-1918? Who had the right to vote? (2)I think it was universal suffrage, but with different ponderations depending on financial criteria. Ie the wealthier you were, the most votes you had. I'm not sure though.
3. In the federal elections of 2002, 2005 and 2009, the Greens won one out the 299 singe member constituencies. In which federal state, which constituency, and who won it? (3)It was in Berlin, I remember seeing the maps. Don't know the constituency or the guy, though.
4. How is the German head of state, the Bundespräsident, elected? Explain the process, roughly. (2)It's elected by MPs of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat (upper house). An absolute majority is required.
5. In 1990, two important German politicians were badly injured in assassination attempts, both survived though. Who were they? (2)No idea.
6. Of all German Länder, three of them carry the purely ceremonial title Freistaat (Free State). Name them. (3)Boh... The 3 cities (Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin) ?
7. There are three recognized language minorities in Germany. Name them. (3)Wait, really ? No idea. Maybe Danish in the north of the Schleswig-Holstein...
8. Who were Gustav Noske, Alfred Hugenberg, Gregor Strasser and Heinrich Brüning? (4)No idea.
9. Four historical events with great impact on German history took place on a November the 9th. Name them. (4)There was the Crystal Night, and the fall of the Berlin wall. Don't remember the 2 others.
10. Who are the current heads of government in the states of Bavaria, North Rhine-Westfalia, Hamburg and Hesse? (4)Dunno.
11. Who said “Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided - [...]- but by iron and blood"? (3)Bismarck.
