Sütterlin was named after the graphical designer, Ludwig Sütterlin, although the term is often applied to any old style of Germanic handwriting. Many German-speakers, particularly younger people, can no longer read this handwriting, although the skill is useful when called upon to decipher old letters and other texts.

Linguistically, it is of interest because the letters that distinguish German from other languages, namely the Umlauts and Eszett, have their origins in Sütterlin. The two vertical strokes of an Umlaut come from the old way of writing the letter 'e', which is why writing 'ä' as 'ae' et cetera is frequently used in emails today. The name Eszett is itself a testament to its formation as a ligature of the letters 's' and 'z'. Actually, both the elongated and more modern looking forms of the letter 's' coexist in Sütterlin, the latter being used at the end of syllables.

The Wikipedia article on Sütterlin has information in English about the history of Sütterlin with some examples. An excellent site if you have to decipher a difficult text is Tips for reading Sütterlin. The information is available in English, German and French. If you would like to play around with Sütterlin, then download the following Sütterlin font and/or another Sütterlin font.