To begin with: The National Socialists did not invent Fraktur.

In fact, the Nazi government banned Fraktur. In 1941. Why? They wanted to spread propaganda. Look at that font (above, left): does that look like a propaganda-friendly font? I rest my case.

Why was that loopy font there in the first place? Thereby hangs a tale.

Have you ever wondered where we get our fonts from? Probably not. Or your answer was: the pull-down menu. Yes, but when printing first started – which, in case you don't remember, was around 1440 if you're a European, and during the Tang dynasty (circa 700 CE) if you're talking about Asia – the shape your letters or characters took on the type depended on the local norms for writing by hand. Emphasis on 'local'.

As it happened, when Johannes Gensfleisch¹ zur Laden zum Gutenberg first started churning out Bibles and grocery flyers, the local writing style was pretty awful. In fact, its official name was Bastarda. This particularly disgusting form of penmanship continues to annoy palaeographers. It wouldn't have bothered anyone else, had not European printing originated where it did. Also, if more pilgrims had been ready to buy Gutenberg's magic aura-catching mirrors, the better to view holy relics with, somebody else might have come up with the printing press².

After all, the Romans were in the middle of a classical revival, and the Venetians were happily bringing back Carolingian minuscule, so the rest of the continent got cleaner scripts. Carolingian revival is a treat for the eyes. Gutenberg's messy type spawned several other fonts including, eventually, Fraktur.

Fraktur's not that bad. I've been reading it since I was about 14. It's come in handy over the years: for historical research, for example. At university, it helped me nab the reading assignments at the library. Nobody else wanted the old copies in Fraktur. While they were busy fighting over the ones in Roman type, I had the reading done and was off to the film club.

Which is why I am mad about Elon Musk and his silly hat. If you haven't been paying attention – and why should you? – Mr Musk wore this hat to a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden. He was cosplaying as a goth, and Halloween was coming, so his MAGA hat was black with silver 'metal'-style lettering. Which critics immediately dubbed Fraktur and started dumbsplaining all over the internet.

The early 21st century appears to be the Age of Making It Up. In the 1980s, I got used to the general attitude of 'if it happened before I was born, I'm not interested.' It made teaching a bit harder, but hey. Recently, however, the trend appears to be reinterpreting the past through the lens of the present – and, if the past refuses to fit the paradigm, why, you just make it up as you go along. We don't like Fraktur. We don't like Nazis. Nazis probably liked Fraktur, right? Wrong.

To explain how the 19th century talked itself into a lot of nonsense, and got from the Enlightenment to Romanticism to nationalism and eugenics and Progressivism and a whole mishmash of strange ideas would, frankly, take up at least a semester's worth of modern European Studies. I recommend it, but it goes beyond the scope of this column.

Suffice it to say, the Nazis didn't have a much better idea of history than the average Reddit user, either: they, too, were making it up as they went along. But they were practical. If you printed it in Fraktur, the foreigners weren't going to read it. It was one reason enrollment was so low in German classes. So, no matter how 'cool' it looked (and seriously, it didn't), Fraktur was out on its can. Long live Roman type.

Where do these goth fonts come from? My personal guess is, too much free time. Also, the Halloween store.

I don't like Mr Musk's politics, either, but don't blame it all on Gutenberg. He didn't invent what's on that hat.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

11.11.24 Front Page

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