Sütterlinschrift

Sütterlinschrift (Sütterlin script), or Sütterlin for short, is the last widely used form of the old German blackletter handwriting (Deutsche Kurrentschrift). In Germany, the old German cursive script developed in the 16th century replacing the Gothic handwriting at the same time that bookletters developed into the Fraktur typeface. Some people refer to all old German handwriting scripts as Sütterlin, although variants of the Kurrent script were in use centuries before graphic artist Ludwig Sütterlin (1865–1917) was born. Sütterlin was commissioned to create a modern handwriting script by the Prussian ministry for culture in 1911 and his handwriting scheme gradually replaced the older cursive scripts. The word Sütterlin is nowadays often used to refer to all varieties of Old German handwriting although this specific script was only taught in all German schools from 1935 to 1941.