Free quote
I send you a binding quote in advance.
Translation service since 2014
Where old handwriting speaks again.
Sütterlin, Kurrent and Kanzleischrift: I transcribe your letters, documents and family bibles into clearly readable German or English.
35Years of experience
630Customers
500Projects
Translation office
Translating old German handwriting
Translation office for old German handwriting such as Sütterlin, Kurrent, Kanzleischrift and German cursive. Translations of letters, certificates, documents (such as easement registers) and other written records.
For private individuals
Have private documents translated
In many families there are still historical letters or postcards that have been carefully kept for many decades. These documents offer not only valuable personal insights into the fates of their writers, but also shed light on contemporary history and the living conditions of times past. A great many letters and postcards were written during the two World Wars to sons, husbands and fathers at the front. They wrote back, and for many the correspondence with home was vital. Today people often talk about Sütterlin when it comes to old handwritten texts. This is only partly correct – that script was taught in German schools only from about 1920 to 1941. Handwriting was already individual back then, and letters in old German script reflect the whole range of handwriting styles in use at the time.
Even people who hardly ever wrote anything in everyday life recorded important family events in their family bibles. Entering deaths, births and other important events was meant to ensure that this news was passed on to descendants. Old diaries and travel accounts also tell of bygone times. Back then a journey was a special event, perhaps once in a lifetime. Do you also have old handwritten documents in your family – a family bible, certificates or other texts? You can't read these family treasures? I'm happy to help! More than 630 satisfied customers can confirm this.
For authorities & businesses
Public authorities, building offices, notaries or estate agents
Do you need a specialist who can review and evaluate handwritten texts effectively, quickly and reliably? Or are you looking for an explanation and translation of handwritten entries about building encumbrances, easements or rights of way for your notary's office or land registry? Do you have an old building description but no idea what it says? I can translate chancery and official scripts, Kurrent and Sütterlin for you.
Thanks to my decades of work in an archive, I know not only the script but also the structure of easements, building encumbrances, land registers, land files and wills. I can therefore also explain the content to you, which can sometimes be hard for a layperson to understand.
Send me your document as a scan, PDF file or copy, and you will receive a binding quote and, once you accept, your translation quickly and at a reasonable price.
For museums & research
Museums, exhibitions or historical research
In the course of my professional work I spent almost 30 years working on historical research and old German handwriting. This has resulted in numerous publications of my own. I'm happy to support you in reviewing data for planned exhibitions, with transcriptions and with transcriptions into contemporary written German. If you send me an excerpt of the old script, I'll gladly make you an offer!
For family researchers
Ancestry and family research in parish registers, baptism, marriage and death records
It can be tremendously exciting to explore the past of your own family. Where did your great-great-grandparents come from? Are you interested in your ancestors and would like to know where they lived, what occupation they had and which social standing and class they belonged to? I'm happy to help evaluate existing documents and parish-register extracts. Since most old parish registers have now been digitised, you can get at the data you want with a few mouse clicks. If only it weren't for the script, which can be an obstacle even for experts. I've been doing family research myself for almost 40 years, so I can certainly offer some advice too. Economic hardship, political circumstances and lack of freedom led very many people in the past to emigrate from Germany. Their descendants are sometimes searching for the origins of their family today. I'm happy to answer your enquiries in English as well.
Services
Two ways into your family's past
Translating old German handwriting
Sütterlin, Kurrent and Kanzleischrift: letters, postcards, certificates, wills and land-register entries made readable, including easements and building encumbrances for notaries and public authorities.
More about translation
Ancestry & family research
Analysing parish registers, baptism, marriage and death records – for anyone who wants to know where their ancestors came from and how they lived. I'm happy to answer enquiries in English too.
More about family researchWhy old scripts
What you can count on
Absolute discretion
Absolute discretion regarding the content of your documents is a matter of course for me.
Sample pages
I'm happy to translate a sample page first, so you can judge the result.
Transparent pricing, no surprises.
A fixed hourly rate, no hidden extra costs. Always a binding quote in advance.
€50per hour
„Sehr kompetent, schnell, nett, hilfsbereit, sehr humane Preise, also eine 100% Empfehlung für alle die eine perfekte Übersetzung alter Text brauchen!“
— GA, guestbook · July 16, 2026
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