A a — the Sütterlin letter A

History

The letter A is the 1st letter of the German alphabet. Phonetically, it represents an open central unrounded vowel, appearing both as long /aː/ in words like 'Vater' and short /a/ in words like 'Mann'. In 1911, the graphic artist and typographer Ludwig Sütterlin was commissioned by the Prussian Ministry of Culture to develop a modernized handwriting script for primary education, creating what became known as Sütterlinschrift.

In Sütterlin, lowercase a was reformed by Ludwig Sütterlin into an upright circular oval with no cursive slant, adhering strictly to the 1:1:1 vertical proportion between middle zone and extenders. It is executed with a counter-clockwise circle followed by a straight vertical downstroke terminating in a rounded base hook. Capital A features an upright oval body with an internal loop and a vertical right stroke. Unlike historical Kurrent, which slanted sharply and featured narrow pointed angles (Spitzschrift), Sütterlin mandated an upright posture (Steilschrift) and round curves. It was designed specifically to be written with a monoline steel round nib (Kugelspitzfeder), avoiding difficult variations between thick downstrokes and hair-thin upstrokes.

As the first letter of the alphabet, a appears constantly in baptismal registers, land deeds, and correspondence. Common formulas like 'am Tage' (on the day) or given names such as 'Anna' and 'August' provide frequent reference examples for paleographers transcribing eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German records. Sütterlin was introduced into Prussian schools in 1915 and spread throughout Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Because it was taught exclusively from 1915 until the 1941 Bormann decree abolished all German scripts, documents written in Sütterlin can reliably be dated to a narrow historical window between the First World War and the mid-twentieth century.

For family historians and genealogists examining early twentieth-century German letters, diaries, postcards, and school exercise books, identifying the regular, upright letterforms of Sütterlin A provides an immediate benchmark for dating and transcribing the text.