The questionnaire, which the writer Marcel Proust filled out twice in his life, was a popular parlour game in the salons of the past. We continue to play it: cheerful and delicate questions as a challenge to spirit and wit. Before the run-off election on 26 March, the candidates Uwe Becker and Mike Josef face the intellectual challenge.

Uwe Becker comes from the Frankfurt district of Nieder-Eschbach. The CDU politician is Hesse's anti-Semitism commissioner and state secretary for federal and European affairs in the Hessian state government. Previously, he was treasurer of the city of Frankfurt for many years. In the first round of voting, he had received 34 percent of the vote.

Mike Josef, who came to Germany as the child of Syrian refugees, is head of the city planning department of the city of Frankfurt. Previously, he was organizational secretary at the German Trade Union Confederation. In the first round of voting, he had received 24 percent of the vote.