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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 1660204, member: 39&quot;]Fraktur was, quite simply, the most commonly used script in the German speaking countries for roughly 400 to 500 years. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> As the word indicates, what is characteristic about it (Fraktur - fracture - something is broken) is the &quot;breaking&quot; of lines that, in Antiqua scripts, would be round. See here <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Boegenunterschiede.png" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Boegenunterschiede.png" rel="nofollow">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Boegenunterschiede.png</a>, particularly the first and last examples.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the late 19th century that usage began to change. Partly because, while German text would often be in Fraktur, Latin or other parts would be in Antiqua, even in the same book. There may have been aesthetic reasons too, don&#039;t know. However, some disliked the move towards more and more Antiqua. The nazis were, in the first years, Fraktur supporters and promoters so to say. That is also why, on coins from those years, you see Fraktur characters (which before had been rarely used on coins).</p><p><br /></p><p>Then, in WW2, the regime suddenly declared Fraktur to be of &quot;Jewish&quot; origin. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiqua–Fraktur_dispute" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiqua–Fraktur_dispute" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiqua–Fraktur_dispute</a> Huh? This decision (in 1941) was apparently made because in the occupied countries/territories hardly anybody could read Fraktur, and also because even Hitler himself considered Fraktur to be an obstacle on the way of making German &quot;more relevant&quot; in the world ...</p><p><br /></p><p>The font used on the nazi coins was not changed (not even during the allied post-war occupation 1945-49), probably due to the cost involved. But those among you who collect stamps (I don&#039;t) may have noticed that on newly issued Nazi Germany stamps (since 1941/42 or so) that did begin to change. Same thing with books, newspapers, etc.&nbsp; And as I mentioned before, today Fraktur is mostly used when you want to emphasize that something is old and/or traditional. Kinda like a sign that says &quot;Ye Olde Shoppe&quot; in Gothic characters. Or look at the top of quite a few newspaper front pages. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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