Reading old German hand writing

[Morten Jessen]

Hi All,

We have a few pages from the diary of a ground attack pilot, which we are having trouble reading (to put it mildly!) due to the old German handwriting. Can anyone assist us?

If so, please contact me off-board.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Morten & Andrew

[Hans Nauta]

Hello Morton & Andrew,

I guess this may be the so called Sütterlin handwriting. A useful site is:

http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/

Best regards,
Hans Nauta

[Larry deZeng]

You can also try here:

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...splay.php?f=32

There are some real experts in Süterlin there and they are usually ready and willing to help, but limit it to just a few paragraphs at a time.

Larry

[obdl3945]

Hans...

Thank you... slightly off-topic, but aside from the fact that the site you mention will doubtless be helpful to those on this forum, I have long meant to look around for a similar site purely for my own personal benefit. I need look no further, this is an excellent and very worthwhile start... .

Regards...

Paul

[Morten Jessen]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your quick and helpful replies .. opportunities on both web sites are now being tried out :-)

Cheers
Morten

[FrankieS]

Hi Morten !

Can you publish the pages on the internet, then I will
try to transcribe them, or contact me off board.
Ciao,
FrankieS

[RolandF]

You have to be extremely cautious with WW2 Sütterlin handwriting. Apart from showing individual handwritings in any case, the Sütterlin script in the early 40s was in a status of transition. The NSDAP regime abolished the Sütterlin and "Schwabacher Fraktur" in 1941 for ideological reasons and replaced it with a more modern handwring. Not only at the schools, but also in every-day life.

Thus the "old, conservative hares" of the Luftwaffe wrote a more or less "clean" Sütterlin", whereas the younger "rookies" chose to write a Sütterlin mingled with the more modern letters of the "Normalschrift". The Nazis wanted them to do so - most people don´t know this.

Regards

Fran