The Modernisation of German Blackletter Typefaces During the 1920s and 1930s

Like Tannenberg, Berthold’s Deutschland was also released between 1933 and 1935. It eventually comprised five styles: three weights; a condensed version with character shapes that differed significantly from those of the regular width styles; and an oblique style. The design was also issued by the foundry Genzsch & Heyse under the name Marienburg. The unusual oblique style, here in a small brochure added to the main Deutschland brochure. Source: Letterform Archive

National was designed by Walter Höhnisch and released by the type foundries Schriftguß and Ludwig & Mayer between 1934 and 1938. The family eventually consisted of eight styles, making it one of the largest type families in this style category. The styles were regular, bold, Werk regular and semibold (for body copy text), condensed, condensed semibold, inline and oblique.

The immense success of the New Typography movement—coupled with the commercial triumph of geometric sans-serif fonts like Futura—encouraged German foundries and type designers to explore how the trend could be applied to the traditional blackletter style, a category still widely used in Germany at the time. It simply needed a modern look suitable for advertising and other common uses. A direct example was Krimhilde, designed by Albert Auspurg and released by Ludwig & Mayer in 1933. It borr

Named after its designer Konrad Jochheim, this design was the simplified textura released by the Woellmer foundry. It was first cast in 1934 and a second, bold condensed style was added in 1936. From “Das Schriftgestalten und Schriftschaffen der deutschen Gießereien seit 1933” Source

Combining elements of fraktur and sans serif, as seen in Krimhilde, remained an exception rather than the norm. A more compelling path toward a modern blackletter lay in looking further back—to the moment when blackletter first diverged from the roman script. This earliest form, known as textura (or Gotisch in German), was still handwritten. Its letters were tall and narrow, not especially easy to read, and often carried a distinctly calligraphic and ornamental character. By stripping away some

A unique and lesser-known design by Fritz Müller, Armin-Gotisch was released in 1933 by the Schriftguß foundry in Dresden. Only one extra-bold style was produced, indicating that the design was intended for display use. Armin-Gotisch clearly reflects the idea of a modern textura, but is less geometric than other designs in the blackletter category. The capital letters, in particular, retain a more calligraphic character, even preserving a typical fraktur feature: the Elefantenrüssel (“elephant’s

In 1941, a political decree ended the use of blackletter as the default type style for German text. With the end of World War II in 1945, a new era began for Germany. Blackletter typefaces released in the preceding decades remained in use for some time, including the simplified textura designs. They were still easily readable and were simply one of many available choices. At the time, they were also not regarded as political symbols of Nazi Germany, as some might claim today. However, there was

Originally designed for a German publishing house by Berthold Wolpe, but eventually released in 1937 at Monotype, after Wolpe had immigrated to the England.

All major German type foundries started to offer blackletter type families in the “simplified textura” style throughout the 1930s. We will now look at each of them to provide a comprehensive overview. One of the earliest and most intriguing designs in the category was Element by Max Bittrof, released by the Bauer Type Foundry. While later designs in this blackletter category adhered more closely to traditional blackletter or roman letter skeletons, Element embraced a playful, experimental approa

Kurmark is an in-house design by Wagner & Schmidt and was released in 1934 (regular) and 1936 (bold) by Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei. The capital letters use a modern and sometimes rather unique, almost experimental design, while the lowercase letters appear rather traditional with rounded strokes—which is usually avoided in this style category. The two cases almost appear as two completely independent typefaces put together.

Gotenburg is one of the most traditional and calligraphic designs in the modern textura category. It consisted of three weights, each being available in version A and B with the difference being the caps being decorated or not.

The styles for Tannenberg were released between 1933 and 1935. The family eventually consisted of five styles: three weights, one condensed and one inline style. Tannenberg was designed by Erich Meyer and released by the D. Stempel AG. Some consider Tannenberg the archetypal typeface in this genre. However, the success of typefaces in this category may also be tied to the market share of the foundries and their ability to promote their designs. It hardly seems a coincidence that the most well-kn

Potsdam was designed by Robert Golpon and released by the Trennert foundry in 1934. The foundry C.E. Weber later als sold the fonts under the name Staufia. The available styles were regular, semibold, bold and semibold condensed.

Deutschmeister is the in-house design of the simplified textura by the Ludwig Wagner foundry in Leipzig. Three styles were published in 1934: regular, extra bold and a bold condensed. The foundry reused the name they had already used in 1927 for a blackletter release with a different design. The old and the new design were marketed as one family (see below). The bold condensed as wood type version Digital extended version released as FDI Neumeister

Most of the type designs mentioned before clearly fit the mold of a “simplified textura”, but as with most design categories, the borders are rather fuzzy. Type foundries didn’t limit their blackletter releases to just this one category. There were more modern blackletter releases, which may or may not count as simplified textura, depending on who you ask. So, some more releases are mentioned here for the sake of completeness. Weiß-Gotisch by Rudolf Weiß, 1936, Bauer Type Foundry Certainly a fre

Designed by Werner Brand and released by Schelter & Giesecke in 1934. Only one narrow style existed. Unlike designs like Deutschland, Tannenberg and Element in this genre, Standarte has a more calligraphic and less geometric feel to it.

Designers also got more playful with bulky calligraphic fonts combining elements of blackletter and roman styles with broken letterforms and triangular shapes. Examples are Fanfare, Alarm, Wiking and Triumph. Wiking (1925) Fanfare (1927. Source) Alarm (1928. Source) Triumph (1929)

In the 1920s, designers sought to modernize typefaces and typography as a whole, leading to the creation of geometric sans-serif typefaces—a category that remains widely popular to this day. While the modernization movement primarily focused on sans-serif designs, attempts to apply these principles to serif or blackletter typefaces were relatively rare. The images shown above are from a competition from the 1920s for covers of the typography magazine Typographische Mitteilungen. While sans seri

Germroth-Schrift (a.k.a. Germroth-Deutsch) was designed by Georg Germroth and released in 1935 by Ludwig & Mayer. Another lesser-known design with a characteristic slit in the ascenders.

This type family is in the collection of the printing museum Pavillon-Presse in various styles and sizes as wood type. So far, it could not be matched to a foundry release or a specific use, in case it is a custom design. There is at least a bold and condensed style as shown in the following pictures.