German script can be read and understood all over the world, where it is actually often used as ornamental script.

German script is still prone to development Latin script is set in stone.

German script does not cause nearsightedness and is healthier for the eyes than Latin script.

German script is more suitable for expressing German language, as it is more adapted to the characteristics of the German language than the Latin script.

German script is more compact in printing, which is an advantage for fast recognition of word images while reading.

the word images are clearer, than Latin script.

German script is a real reading script: it is more readable, i.e.

Arguments for Fraktur were not only based on historical and cultural perceptions, but also on the claim that Fraktur was more suited for printing German and other Germanic languages, as their proponents claimed it to be more readable than Antiqua for this purpose.Ī 1910 publication by Adolf Reinecke, Die deutsche Buchstabenschrift, claims the following advantages for using Fraktur as the German script: The dispute between Antiqua and Fraktur continued well into the 20th century. He refused gifts of German books in Antiqua typefaces and returned them to sender with the statement Deutsche Bücher in lateinischen Buchstaben lese ich nicht! (I don't read German books in Latin letters!).

Otto von Bismarck was a keen supporter of German typefaces. For instance, Goethe's mother advised her son, who had taken to the clear Antiqua typefaces, to remain-'for God's sake'-German, even in the lettering style he chose. In contrast, Fraktur, with its much darker and denser script, was viewed as representing allegedly German virtues such as depth and sobriety.ĭuring the Romantic Era, in which the Middle Ages were glorified, Fraktur additionally gained the (historically incorrect) interpretation that it represented German Gothicism. In the context of these debates, the two styles became increasingly polarized: Antiqua typefaces were seen as 'un-German', and using them took on connotations of 'shallow', 'light', and 'not serious'. There was a massive effort to canonize the German national literature-for example, the Grimm Brothers' collection of fairy tales-and to create a unified German grammar. Originally this was simply a convention.Ĭonflict over the two typeface styles first came to a head after the occupation of Germany and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon in 1806, which led to a period in the history of Germany in which nationalists began to attempt to define cultural values common to all Germans. This extended even to English–German dictionaries the English words would all be written in Antiqua, and the German words in Fraktur. Whereas Fraktur was preferred for works written in German, for Latin texts the Antiqua-style typefaces were normally used. Historically, the dispute originates in the differing use of these two typefaces in most intellectual texts. Origin Two typefaces: the German text uses Fraktur numerals and Latin and French words are written in Antiqua.

The eventual outcome was that the Antiqua-style typefaces prevailed, when the Nazi Party chose to put an end to the use of Fraktur. However, in Germany and Austria, the two styles of printing coexisted until the first half of the 20th century.ĭuring that time, both styles gained ideological connotations in Germany, which led to long and heated disputes on what was the 'correct' typeface to use. In most European countries, blackletter typefaces like the German Fraktur were displaced with the creation of the Antiqua typefaces in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Antiqua–Fraktur dispute was a typographical dispute in 19th- and early 20th-century Germany. The 'Latin script' was typified by Antiqua The 'German/Gothic script' (blackletter) was embodied by Fraktur JSTOR ( June 2010) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'Antiqua–Fraktur dispute' – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

Frakur traditional typeface examples