19-20 ғасырдағы Германиядағы «Антиква-Фрактур» типографиялық дауы

Typographical dispute in the 19th and early 20th century in Germany

The Antiqua–Fraktur dispute was a typographical dispute in 19th and early 20th century Germany. 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. However, in Germany and Austria, the two styles of printing coexisted until the first half of the 20th century. During that time, both styles gained ideological connotations in Germany, which led to long and heated disputes on what was the "correct" typeface to use. The eventual outcome was that the Antiqua style typefaces prevailed, when the Nazi Party chose to put an end to the use of Fraktur in favor of "normal typeface" (Normalschrifterlass).

Historically, the dispute originates in the differing use of these two typefaces in most intellectual texts. Whereas Fraktur was preferred for works written in German, for Latin texts the Antiqua style typefaces were normally used. This extended even to English–German dictionaries; the English words would all be written in Antiqua, and the German words in Fraktur. Originally this was simply a convention.

Conflict 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. 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. 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". In contrast, Fraktur, with its much darker and denser script, was viewed as representing allegedly German virtues such as depth and sobriety. During the Romantic Era, in which the Middle Ages were glorified, Fraktur additionally gained the (historically incorrect) interpretation that it represented German Gothicism. 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. Otto von Bismarck was a keen supporter of German typefaces. He went so far as to refuse 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! ).

After the war, the Sütterlin script was once again taught in the schools of some states of Germany as an additional script, but it could not hold out against the usage of Latin cursive scripts. Nowadays, since few people who can read Kurrent remain, most old letters, diaries, etc. remain inaccessible for all but the most elderly German speakers, or specialists like genealogists or historians. As a consequence, most Germans find it difficult to decipher their own grandparents' letters, diaries, or certificates. However, the Fraktur script remains present in everyday life in some pub signs, beer brands and other forms of advertisement, where it is used to convey a certain sense of rusticity and oldness (compare the English ye olde). However, many of these deviate from the traditional letterforms, specifically in the frequent untraditional use of the round s instead of the long s (ſ) at the beginning of a syllable, the omission of ligatures, and the use of letter forms more similar to Antiqua for certain especially hard to read Fraktur letters such as k. Books wholly printed in Fraktur are nowadays read mostly for particular interests. Since many people have difficulty understanding blackletter, they may have trouble accessing older editions of classic works in German. A few organizations such as the continue to advocate the use of Fraktur typefaces, highlighting their cultural and historical heritage and their advantages when used for printing Germanic languages. But these organizations are small, somewhat sectarian, and not particularly well known in Germany. In the United States, Mexico, and Central America, Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonite, and Old Colony Mennonite schools still teach the Kurrent handwriting and Fraktur script. Many German books printed by Amish and Mennonite printers use the Fraktur script.