|
What
is Sütterlin
Script
By
Jonathan Bocek
|
|
|
As
Eric Tobey mentioned in his Solbuch article, there
were two different styles of German handwriting used
during the WWII era. One is a slightly different
style of our own "Latinized" longhand, but
the other is a rather bizarre saw tooth script known
as "Sütterlin"
or "Deutsche Schrift."
In
1911, a German graphical designer & teacher,
Ludwig Sütterlin (1865-1917) was commissioned by the
Prussian ministry for culture, to develop a basic
script to set a basis for school children to develop
their own handwriting. The result was a creation
of wide curves & very sharp angles known as Sütterlin
script. Sütterlin
is a form of the earlier & yet very
different chancery writing which was mainly used by
government officials.
|
|
By
1915, Sütterlin was the standard script in all
Prussian schools & by 1934, it was being taught
in every German school. Times began to change
however in Germany. With the turn of the
century, society
was becoming more modernistic. The result, Sütterlin
was viewed as being antiquated & ugly.
Thus, the script's
popularity declined.
 |
***
The "long s"  is
for the center of a word. |
***
The round "ending s"  is
used at the end of the word. |
In
September of 1941, Hitler ordered Sütterlin
script to no longer be taught in Volksschulen (elementary
schools). The reason for this was
simple; communication problems. German officials
realized that most of the occupied European countries
under their control could not read or understand Sütterlin.
Even
though Sütterlin
was no longer being taught in schools after 1941, it continued to
be used during WWII. Older Generations that had
already been taught the Sütterlin style knew no other
way of writing. Hence, sütterlin script can be
found in soldbuchs, letters, etc... all throughout
the war.
•
To
find original Sütterlin
examples & reading exercises:
Click
Here
•
To
purchase Sütterlin fonts for your PC:
Click
Here
As
living historians, it would be an added detail to have
examples of this handwriting in one's kit. The
above links are helpful for those interested in integrating
Sütterlin into their impressions. The first is
a link to a great web site that is dedicated to the
script. It has various reading exercises (with script
translations) & basic grammar rules. as well as various original
examples of the script which make it highly
recommended to those actually wishing to learn this
difficult, but historical style of handwriting. The
second link
is for a company that sells computer fonts of Sütterlin.
Purchasing a font can
be useful for those looking for an easier
way to make up some Feldpost items or documents.
| - |
Dörling,
Peter Read Suetterlin / Read Blackletters.
12 July 2006
<http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm>. |
| - |
"Sütterlin"
wikipedia.org 12 July 2006
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BCtterlin>. |
| - |
"On
the History of Old German Script"
waldenfont.com 12 July 2006
<hhttp://www.waldenfont.com/content.asp?contentpageID=8>. |
BACK TO CULTURE
|
