The planned German spelling reform of 1944 was a failed attempt to amend German orthography. Although one million copies of the new rules were printed by 1944 for school use, the reform was never introduced. Their preparation was initiated by the
Reich Education Minister Bernhard Rust
Bernhard Rust (30 September 1883 – 8 May 1945) was Minister of Science, Education and National Culture ( Reichserziehungsminister) in Nazi Germany.Claudia Koonz, ''The Nazi Conscience'', p 134 A combination of school administrator and zealou ...
and they were drawn up by
Otto Basler,
Erich Gierach and
Karl Reumuth.
Among the key features were:
* optional changes to the spelling of words of foreign origin to remove non-German combinations, e.g. for meaning philosopher
* the removal of the third consonant in all groups of three consecutive consonants resulting from the combination of two words, e.g. to , although this was often overcome using a hyphen.
* division of words at the end of a line according to the spoken syllables (, , )
* the disappearance of the comma before main clauses introduced by or .
On the orders of
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, the introduction of the new rules in schools, which had been planned for the start of the 1944–45 school year, was postponed as it was considered "not important for the war effort".
Otto Basler produced a slightly revised version of the rulebook in 1948, but the innovations contained in it were not implemented.
Some of the proposed changes, such as the comma before the conjunction becoming optional and the hyphenation changes, were included in the
German spelling reform of 1996
The German orthography reform of 1996 (') was a change to German spelling and punctuation that was intended to simplify German orthography and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to users of the lan ...
.
Some of Rust's proposed spellings could be found in the dictionary up to the 1980s, such as the spelling .
See also
*
German spelling
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
*
Spelling reform
A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples a ...
*
German Orthographic Conference of 1901
The German Orthographic Conference of 1901 (the Berlin II Orthographic Conference; german: Zweite Orthographische Konferenz or ') took place in Berlin from 17 until 19 June 1901. The results of the conference became official in the German Empire ...
*
German orthography reform of 1996
The German orthography reform of 1996 (') was a change to German spelling and punctuation that was intended to simplify German orthography and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to users of the lan ...
References
Citations
General references
*
Otto Basler''Deutsche Rechtschreibung. Regeln und Wörterverzeichnis'' Leibniz (später: Oldenbourg), München, 1948 u. ö.
* Wolfgang Kopke: ''Rechtschreibreform und Verfassungsrecht''. Mohr, Tübingen 1995.
*
Theodor Ickler: "Die einzige wirkliche Rechtschreibreform in Deutschland". In: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', Nr. 129 vom 8. June 1998, p. 9.
* Hanno Birken-Bertsch and Reinhard Markner: ''Rechtschreibreform und Nationalsozialismus. Ein Kapitel aus der politischen Geschichte der deutschen Sprache'', Göttingen: Wallstein, 2000. {{ISBN, 3-89244-450-1.
1944 in Germany
German orthography reforms