(, " script") is the last widely used form of , the historical form of German

handwriting script A script or handwriting script is a formal, generic style of handwriting (as opposed to personal handwriting), within a writing system. A hand may be a synonym or a variation, a subset of script. There is a variety of historical styles in manus ...

that evolved alongside German

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

(most notably ') typefaces. Graphic artist Ludwig Sütterlin was commissioned by the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n Ministry of Science, Art and Culture (') to create a modern handwriting script in 1911. His handwriting scheme gradually replaced the older

cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

scripts that had developed in the 16th century at the same time that letters in books had developed into

Fraktur Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. It is designed such that the beginnings and ends of the individual strokes that make up each letter will be clearly vis ...

. The name ' is nowadays often used to refer to several similar varieties of old German handwriting, but Sütterlin's own script was taught only from 1915 to 1941 in all German schools.

History

The ministry had asked for "modern" handwriting scripts to be used in offices and to be taught in school. Sütterlin created two scripts in parallel with the two typefaces that were in use (see Antiqua–Fraktur dispute). The scripts were introduced in Prussia in 1915 and from the 1920s onwards they began to replace the relatively similar old German handwriting () in schools. In 1935 the style officially became the only German script taught in schools. The

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

banned all "broken"

typefaces in 1941, which were seen as chaotic, including , and replaced them with Latin-type letters such as Antiqua. However many German speakers who had been brought up with that writing system continued to use it well into the postwar period. continued to be taught in some German schools until the 1970s but no longer as the primary script.

Characteristics

is based on older German handwriting, which is a handwriting form of the

Blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

scripts such as and , the German print scripts used at the same time. It includes the long s (ſ) as well as several standard ligatures such as (f-f), (ſ-t), (s-t), and ß (ſ-z or ſ-s). Because of their distinctiveness, letters can be used on the blackboard for certain

mathematical symbol A mathematical symbol is a figure or a combination of figures that is used to represent a mathematical object, an action on mathematical objects, a relation between mathematical objects, or for structuring the other symbols that occur in a formula ...

s that are represented by letters in print. The lower-case d in and is used in

proofreading Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place corr ...

for ' ("let it be deleted"). The Sütterlin lower-case 'e' contains two vertical bars close together, in which the origin of the umlaut

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

(¨) from a small 'e' written above the modified vowel can be seen.

Overview of the letters

(There are two lower-case forms of the letter "s". The second one is used at the end of a syllable.)

A a

B b

C c

D d

E e

F f

G g

H h

I i

J j

K k

L l

M m

N n

O o

P p

Q q

R r

S ſ s

T t

U u

V v

W w

X x

Y y

Z z

Ä ä

Ö ö

Ü ü

Examples

File:Bäckerei in Sütterlin.JPG, The text ' in script in

Wismar Wismar (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar () is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city of Mecklenburg after Rostock, Schwerin and ...

, northern Germany File:ArreststubeNr1K.JPG, In

Petersberg Citadel Petersberg Citadel (German: ''Zitadelle Petersberg'') in Erfurt, central Germany, is one of the largest and best-preserved town fortresses in Europe.Stadtverwaltung Erfurt (17 November 2017) ''Petersberg'' Retrieved 23 December 2017 The citadel w ...

, Erfurt: ' ("lock-up room No. 1"). Notice the long s's. File:Offizierswache1K.JPG, ' ("officers' guardroom"). Notice the round s at the end of ', since it occurs at the end of a syllable. File:Grenadierwache1K.JPG, ', "

grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

s' guardroom" File:Kant in Sütterlin font.png, Computer font version (text from '' What is Enlightenment?'' by

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

)

Notes

References

External links

The script at Omniglot

German language page about — with history of German cursive handwriting and Sütterlin

a lesson, with sample texts *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutterlin Blackletter Handwriting script Western calligraphy German orthography