"Aussiedler" are ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries who are granted the right to resettle in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) if they can provide evidence of German ancestry, attachment to the German language and culture, and ongoing assertion of German ethnicity. This article outlines the policies, legislation, and practices the German authorities have adopted to deal with these people. In particular, it describes and analyses the role assigned to the German language and the language testing practices involved in the recognition process. It summarizes the criticisms that this "language test" has attracted and discusses how it reflects or contradicts ideologies of language, ethnicity, and national identity. (Contains 4 footnotes.)