Commonly known as Old German Script, Kurrent is the most popular handwriting style found in non-representative handwritten German documents from the 16th through middle 20th centuries. It originally evolved from the Gothic cursive handwriting at the end of the Middle Ages. Since about 1450, writing teachers have developed its style to be quicker and easier to write. At the same time they included lots of decorative flourishes as a demonstration of their abilities. The last reform took place at the begining of the 20th century when graphic artist Ludwig Sütterlin developed a script that became known as simply Sütterlin. His form of Kurrent was upright, somehow wider, consisted of wide curves and very few sharp angles, and became the standard model for all German schools. In 1941 however, Hitler ordered a complete reversal of existing policy and issued a curious decree, declaring Fraktur and Deutsche Kurrentschrift to be of “Jewish origin” and therefore taboo. The true motive for this sudden change is clear: communication problems. German politics realized that most of the occupied European countries could not read or understand Fraktur and German script and that they would have difficulties in holding sway over their imperium with German letterforms. German or not, it had to go.
