German Cursive

Characteristics

Origin	Germany
Era	1953 (Lateinische), 1968 (Schulausgangsschrift), 1972 (Vereinfachte)
Region	German federal states
Slant	right slant
Loops	looped ascenders and descenders
Lead-in strokes	yes
Joins	fully joined lowercase; capitals join optionally
Taught today	Lateinische, Vereinfachte and Schulausgangsschrift by state

Rendered in Playwrite DE LA, the closest available approximation; instructional labels are generic descriptors, not curriculum brands.

German cursive means two things: the school scripts taught in Germany since the 1950s, and the older Kurrent and Sütterlin hands in which letters and records were written until the 1940s and which most Germans can no longer read.

The school scripts

West Germany introduced the Lateinische Ausgangsschrift in 1953, a looped, right-slanted Latin cursive; East Germany introduced its own Schulausgangsschrift in 1968; and the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift of 1972 simplified the joins so that every lowercase letter ends at the midline. All three are fully joined, with looped ascenders and descenders and entry strokes on the lowercase. Which one a child learns depends on the federal state and the school, and some states now teach a basic unjoined script first. This site renders the model in a German school face.

Kurrent and Sütterlin

Before 1941 German was written in Kurrent, a pointed, angular cursive descended from medieval hands, with letterforms quite unlike the Latin ones: e is a pair of short strokes, s has a long form and a round form, and n and u look alike. Sütterlin, introduced in Prussian schools in 1915, is a simplified upright Kurrent. Both were dropped by decree in 1941 and replaced by Latin script, so letters, diaries and records from before that date are in a hand that later generations were never taught. Reading them is a skill of its own.

Reading old German handwriting

Learn the Kurrent alphabet first, lowercase then capitals, and expect to read by word rather than by letter, since several letters are told apart only by context. Fraktur, the printed blackletter, is a different thing from Kurrent, the handwritten form, and is easier to read. The reading old cursive guide covers the Latin hands; genealogical societies publish Kurrent alphabets for the German ones.

Practising it

For a child in a German school, the school's own Ausgangsschrift and its ruled exercise books. The worksheet generator prints the looped model on standard rules, and the looped cursive page describes the family it belongs to.

Frequently asked questions

Which cursive do German schools teach today?

One of three Latin school scripts, chosen by the federal state and the school: the Lateinische Ausgangsschrift of 1953, the Schulausgangsschrift of 1968 or the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift of 1972. Some states now begin with an unjoined basic script and let children develop their own joined hand from it.

What is the difference between Kurrent, Sütterlin and Fraktur?

Kurrent is the old German handwriting, angular and pointed; Sütterlin is a simplified upright Kurrent taught from 1915; Fraktur is the printed blackletter typeface used for German books and newspapers until 1941. Fraktur is read letter by letter with a little practice; Kurrent and Sütterlin need the alphabet learned, because their letterforms differ from Latin ones.

Why can most Germans not read their grandparents' handwriting?

Because Kurrent and Sütterlin were abolished in 1941 and replaced by Latin script in schools, so anyone taught after the war learned only Latin cursive. Letters and documents from before then are in a hand with different letterforms, and reading them now takes deliberate study.