For centuries, German was often printed in Fraktur, a distinctive blackletter typeface
🌍 By the late 1800s, many scientists, businesses and publishers were already pushing for a switch to the more international Antiqua typeface
🏛️ The debate became so heated that it even reached the German parliament in 1911
🦅 After 1933, the Nazis embraced Fraktur as something uniquely German and used it extensively in propaganda
⚔️ Then came the problem: people across occupied Europe struggled to read it
📜 In 1941, Martin Bormann ordered that Fraktur be abandoned in favour of Antiqua
✡️ Rather than admit the practical reasons, the regime absurdly claimed that Fraktur was somehow of Jewish origin
🍺 Today, you’re most likely to spot it on old pub signs, traditional restaurant menus or historic buildings - stuff that wants to give you that old world feel, even if it’s not really that old…
