State Questions: Hamburg

The coat of arms of Hamburg shows the white castle with three towers on a red field. On the image panel this is answer 2. The other three shields belong to other federal states: look at the heraldic animal, the colours, and the number of fields.

Altona is located in Hamburg. The three wrong answers are districts or boroughs of other federal states. For the test it is enough to know the one name that belongs to your state.

The state parliament of Hamburg is elected for 5 years. Each federal state sets its own electoral term in its own constitution, so the figure differs from state to state. The Bundestag is always elected for four years.

In local elections in Hamburg you may vote from the age of 16. The local voting age is set by each state and is either 16 or 18 depending on the state: for Bundestag elections it is uniformly 18 nationwide.

The state flag of Hamburg is white-red. Background: white and red are the classic Hanseatic colours, and the castle stands for the fortified trading city.

The place to go is at the State Center for Political Education. Every federal state maintains such a body: it provides politically neutral information on politics, history, and society, and hands out brochures and books free or very cheaply. The public order office, consumer advice centre, and churches have different remits.

Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states; the other two are Berlin and Bremen. A city-state is simultaneously a city and a federal state: it has no surrounding territory and combines municipal and state responsibilities in one administration.

Hamburg lies in northern Germany on the Elbe, surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony: the country's second-largest city. On the map this is answer 3. The quickest way to find the state is to orient yourself by its neighbours and whether it touches the coast.

In Hamburg the head of government is called First Mayor / First Mayoress. The three city-states each use their own title: Berlin a Governing Mayor, Hamburg a First Mayor, Bremen a President of the Senate. In the 13 territorial states the office is called Ministerpräsident.

Hamburg has no Senator for External Relations. Under the Basic Law, foreign policy is exclusively a federal matter: no state maintains diplomatic relations of its own. Portfolios such as finance, justice, the interior, education, and the environment, by contrast, exist in every state government.