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[Editor's note: There was a huge response to this query. The most common responses follow below.] 1. From: Hans Scheibler (HAibler@AOL.COM) It depends a little bit whether you are dealing with Offenbacher, Korrent or Sütterlin (true Sütterlin one may find from the twenties on...) but still it takes time to become familiar with it. From my own experience deciphering it, I can say that after three or four days looking at it, it starts to work out fine. There is a less metaphysical approach to it by reading and working with: Harald Süß, _Deutsche Schreibschrift, Lesen und Schreiben lernen._ Augustus Verlag, München 2001. Or the famous Löffler, _Handschriftenkunde_ - which is not as useful to this problem as Süss, as to my experience. Yours Hans Scheibler 2. From: Robert Schmitt Scheubel (schmittscheubel@TU-BERLIN.DE) Zum Lernen recht gut: Karl Gladt, _Deutsche Schriftfibel. Anleitung zur Lektüre der Kurrentschrift des 17.-20. Jahrhunderts_ Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt Graz 1976 ISBN 3-201-0078-4 3. From: Bjorn Hanssen (sidevei@ONLINE.NO) Try the following web address http://www.peter-doerling.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm Yours sincerely Bjorn Hanssen 4. From: Lutz Sauerteig (Lutz.Sauerteig@IGM.UNI-FREIBURG.DE) There are several internet sources available to learn the so called Suetterlin-Schrift which was used by most Germans around 1900: http://www.uni-saarland.de/~m.hahn/slp2000.htm http://www.peter-doerling.de/Lese/Sutterlin0.htm You could also try: Harald Suess: Deutsche Schreibschrift Lesen und Schreiben lernen, Augsburg (Augustus Verlag) 1992 The best way to learn to read Suetterlin script is by learning to write it. Good luck Dr Lutz Sauerteig Institute for the History of Medicine University of Freiburg 5. From: Geoff Megargee (GMegargee@USHMM.ORG) There are some helpful websites, such as http://www.deutscheschrift.de/ that offer examples of the writing. Try a google.com search under "deutsche Schrift" for starters. You'll also find classes available, some of them online -- though I can't vouch for the quality. I believe there may even be an annual seminar offered by DAAD. Geoff Megargee 6. From: David Olivier (davidholivier@SK.SYMPATICO.CA) The most important element to learning Suetterlinschrift is practice. Do not be discouraged if you come across something you can't read the first time. It's best if your early attempts are with pieces written by clerks or others with a good clear hand. Save the ink-stained scrawls for later. The first thing I did was copy a page from an old high school textbook (German used to be taught in Ontario high schools a long time ago) which had the script letters written out. Study the letters; the form is essential. As well, ensure you have a grasp of the basic vocabulary being used by your subjects. If they are all writing about similar experiences, certain words and phrases will recur frequently; this will help you recognize them in hard-to-read letters, and may give you clues about how that particular writer forms certain characters. I was fortunate in that our university library had a copy of a work put together during the Second World War by the University of Toronto as a training manual for intelligence officers. It consisted of a series of letters, written by Germans or German-Canadians, in Suetterlinschrift. The book had some thirty or so letters, and provided the answers for the first five. Unfortunately, the other answers were supposed to be "sent away for." I contacted the Germanic Studies Department at UofT and, after the department contacted surviving staff and faculty, managed to locate the answers for most of the remaining letters. Check your library for any textbooks; they may come in useful. Good luck with your studies. David H. Olivier 7. From: Benjamin Hett (hett@FAS.HARVARD.EDU) Dear Annemarie, I faced a similar problem a few years ago and found a book by Fritz Verdenhalven, "Die Deutsche Schrift. Ein Uebungsbuch" (1991) extremely helpful. The exercises take you from basic letter recognition through to facsimile texts in various hands. There is introductory material in English (more or less) as well as German. I worked on the book for a few weeks before embarking on archival research in Germany and found the learning curve was fairly quick. Good luck! Ben Hett (hett@fas.harvard.edu) 8. From: Glenn Penny (pennyh@UMKC.EDU) Dear Annemarie, I learned the script by accident. I arrived in the archive in Hamburg and was given a file full of interesting things I could not read and wondered why no one had told me about this. . . I suggest picking up a copy of an old schoolbook from the late nineteenth century that has writing exercises in it. There are many, and you should be able to find some in your library. Learning to write the script is the best way to learn to read it. Of course, every hand is different, and some much more challenging than others. But if you budget that learning curve into your research time, it is no problem. GP ******************* H. Glenn Penny Assistant Professor Department of History 205 Cockefair hall 5100 Rockhill Road Kansas City Missouri 64110-2499 9. From: Michael Nolan (nolan@BRANDEIS.EDU) The handwriting system in use in the early twentieth century is known as Suetterlinschrift, named after the man who created it. You can find it in the list of fonts at www.fraktur.com. One thing you can do with it is to put it on a transparency, then place it over a written text for reference as needed. I hope this is useful. Sincerely, Michael Nolan Brandeis University 10: From: Joachim Wintzer (historiker@deutschlandweb.de) Ich empfehle das Suetterlin-Lernprogramm. Es ist Freeware und erhältlich bei: http://www.uni-saarland.de/~m.hahn/slp2000.htm Joachim Wintzer 11. From: Gary Shanafelt (gshan@MCMURRY.MCM.EDU) Basically, you've got it: look at old German language schoolbooks. I had one with a table of Kurrentschrift letters in the back (actually, Suetterlin letters) and did what I could to practice using the letters before I left to begin my research in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna on the World War I period. I xeroxed the page and took it with me. You might also check out the lettersets offered for sale at Walden Fonts (www.waldenfont.com on the Internet). They have a lot of Fraktur (printed) fonts and a number of script (handwriting) fonts, if you want to install them on your computer and get used to them that way. Incidentally, I found a lot of variation in handwriting styles when I actually got into the Austrian archives. Some people used the traditional German script in their handwriting; others used Western Latin style handwriting -- just as books were being printed in both Latin (Antiqua) letters and Fraktur at the start of the 20th century. Luckily, a lot of people used typewriters! Of course, illegible handwriting is hard to read in any language, and I found the traditional Kurrentschrift to be even more illegible than Western letters since most of the characters, when written quickly, look something like jagged shards of broken glass glued together. Why one person would use Kurrentschrift and another Western letters is beyond me; I don't know if the schools taught both styles and a person chose a style based on his or her political perferences (Kurrentschrift for conservatives, Western letters for cosmopolitans: in printed books, you don't find a lot of stuff by people like Bert Brecht in Fraktur). Perhaps someone on the list with more knowledge of German handwriting than I have can provide further elucidation? Gary W. Shanafelt McMurry University
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