Antiqua–Fraktur dispute

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.

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.

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!

A 1910 publication by Adolf Reinecke, Die deutsche Buchstabenschrift, claims the following advantages for using Fraktur as the German script: On 4 May 1911, a peak in the dispute was reached during a vote in the Reichstag.

[7] However, Hitler's distaste for Fraktur saw it officially discontinued in 1941 in a Schrifterlass ("edict on script") signed by Martin Bormann, which asserted that it was falsely called "Gothic" and actually consisted of Schwabacher "Jewish letters".

The edict mentions publications destined for foreign countries, Antiqua would be more legible to those living in the occupied areas; the impetus for a rapid change in policy probably came from Joseph Goebbels and his Propaganda Ministry.

Foreign fonts and machinery could be used for the production of propaganda and other materials in local languages, but not so easily in German as long as the official preference for Fraktur remained.

A few organizations such as the Bund für deutsche Schrift und Sprache [de] continue to advocate the use of Fraktur typefaces, highlighting their cultural and historical heritage and their advantages when used for printing Germanic languages.