Page 7 - 2026 Jan-Feb GC

Fraktur of the Past Meet the Barbarians: The Celts

By Martin Ederer Then there are the Celts who
By Daniel Schwarz y Roman definitions, most migrated to the British Isles:
S ince the 16 century and up to WW2, many German books were Bians. Ironically, many Ger- Britons, Gaels (Scots and Irish),
th
Germans qualify as barbar-
printed using a fancy style of calligraphy, called Fraktur. It is a
and Picts (Caledonians), who
blackletter typeface with upper- and lower-case letters of the Ger-
man alphabet, including the umlauted vowels (ä, ö, and ü), and the inter- mans are not as Germanic as the among other Celtic groups such
name would seem to indicate. In
esting looking Eszett (ß) for the double ss. You may notice how similar fact, a good many Germans have a as the Welsh and Cornish, got
these letters resemble their counterpart in the Latin or Roman alphabet. strong Celtic heritage. This was a displaced and pushed to the
During this time, there were other typefaces, including variations of collection of Indo-European tribes margins . . .
Fraktur. Fraktur, comes from the Latin fractus, meaning “broken”, that, quite frankly, were everywhere
clearly separated, which distinguished this typeface from others. Many of in Europe – and then some. It also and Portugal. There is a region in
the Fraktur letters have sweeping swings of the capital letters, and in bears mentioning that Germanic Spain called “Galicia” (note the
German have been amusingly called Elefantenrüssel or “elephant’s trunk”. tribes that we associate with all “gal” part of that). There is also a
Fraktur is a very decorative font and can still be seen occasionally on things German were relative late- region in Poland by the same name.
signs and advertising portraying Germanic roots, and anywhere where a comers on the Central European Celts were settled through the Alps:
German style of gothic typeface is chosen. For your information, the scene after they began migrating out The Helvetii (think Swiss) were
standard Fraktur alphabet is shown here with its counter Roman alphabet. of more northern regions such as Celts. Celts were settled through the
Also, besides showing the lower case, the pronunciation of each letter is Scandinavia and its fringes. Still for Danube Valley and called the areas
given under the capital letter. several centuries, both groups of around Hallstatt one of their indige-
people had done a fine job of mix- nous regions. They founded what
today is Sofia in Bulgaria.
ing and mingling. So much for ra-
cial purity – and an object lesson in The Galatians, to whom St. Paul
addressed a letter that is in the New
“isms” that manage to overpower
reality and common sense. Be that Testament of the Bible, were settled
in the Anatolian plain near present-
as it may, who were the Celts?
As much as we associate the day Ankara (Asian Turkey). In the
300s, St. Jerome, being quite the
Celts with the British Isles, they
were much more indigenous to the linguist, saw strong similarities be-
tween the language of the Galatians
continent, and especially a big piece
of central and western Europe for Reconstruction of the dress and and that of the Treveri in northern
equipment of an Iron Age Celtic Gaul.
much longer. There are numerous
theories about the absolute origins warrior from Biebertal, Germa- Then there are the Celts who
ny. Photo by Gorinin - Own work, migrated to the British Isles: Brit-
of the Celts, but that quickly be-
comes a complicated and often in- CC BY-SA 3.0 ons, Gaels (Scots and Irish), and
Picts (Caledonians), who among
conclusive story. Some of our best
other Celtic groups such as the
records of the Celts come from also signified Celts. Think the Baiu-
Welsh and Cornish, got displaced
Greek and especially Roman sourc- varii (Bavarians) or the Bohemians.
es. The Celts were everywhere. and pushed to the margins when
Germanic Angles and Saxons and
For starters, while some ancient These are the people, of course, that
Jutes later occupied the islands, a
authors referred to these people as Caesar wrote about in his famous
trend that was also occurring as
“Celts”, (Julius Caesar claimed that Gallic Wars, and we associate them
other Germanic tribes migrated
the Celts used that term to describe with modern-day France. But con-
around on the continent.
themselves), the more typical Ro- sider that the Romans were already
One interesting factoid associat-
man term was “Gaul.” The short fighting Gauls in northern Italy
ed with the Celts is the sheer num-
form here is that any designation (note the “Bo” prefix of the city of
ber of European towns in Central
such as “Gallic” or “Gaelic” or Bologna) centuries before Julius
Europe with “Roman” origins. In
“Galician” or “Galatian” (!) refers Caesar’s northern expeditions.
to the Celts. In some parts of Cen- Celts also lived well outside of many instances, the Romans simply
expanded existing Celtic settle-
tral Europe, prefixes such as “Bo” modern-day France. There were
ments from Cologne to Zurich to
or “Boii” (or some variant thereof) Celtiberians in what are today Spain
Vienna, three notable names from a
very lengthy list. A second is the
Northrop Grumman and MBDA in Germany sign MOU proliferation of red hair (or reddish
highlights) in many parts of Europe,
to strengthen German air and missile defense capabilities something usually associated with
the Celts, and a hair color common
orthrop Grumman and MBDA integrated air and missile defense cooperation between the United enough in German-speaking Cen-
Nin Germany have signed a solutions including the ARA- States and Germany. We are evalu- tral Europe. We may call ourselves
memorandum of understanding NEUS™ system as well as other ating the capabilities and strengths German, but as things turn out,
(MOU) to enhance Germany’s air related capabilities. of our companies to investigate pos- many of us are easily equal parts
and missile defense capabilities dur- Through this collaboration the sible integrated solutions for the Celtic.
ing the Berlin Security Conference. companies will explore leveraging German armed forces air defence Ironically also, the people that
Northrop Grumman's expertise their respective specialized defense systems. It is our combined goal to are more purely Germanic than
in integrated air and missile defense technologies during a series of tech- strengthen air defence in Germany Germans get called Nordic or Scan-
command and control systems, as nical exchanges and potential dem- and NATO partner nations to en- dinavian. It is often a treacherous
demonstrated through the Integrated onstrations. able joint operations." business how names get assigned.
Battle Command System (IBCS), Kenn Todorov, vice president
provides opportunities for collabo- and general manager, command and
ration with MBDA in Germany’s control and weapons integration, Kenn Todorov, vice president
and general manager, command
and control and weapons integra-
tion, Northrop Grumman and
Guido Brendler, senior vice pres-
ident sales and business develop-
ment Germany and member of
the board, MBDA in Germany.
Photo: MBDA in Germany

Northrop Grumman, said, "Northrop
Grumman is dedicated to collaborat-
ing with our industrial partners to
create innovative, sovereign solu-
tions that improve the performance
and effectiveness of both current
and future integrated air and missile
defense systems. A connected bat-
tlespace across Germany and its Eu-
ropean allies, supported by
advanced command and control
technologies like IBCS, is essential
for deterring and countering aggres-
sion. This connectivity is further en-
hanced by collaborative efforts
within the defense industry, such as
the opportunities we will explore
with MBDA Deutschland."
Thomas Gottschild, MBDA ex-
ecutive group director strategy and
managing director, MBDA
Deutschland, remarked: "The MOU
is of great importance for industrial January - February 2026 • THE GERMAN CITIZEN • 7