The history of East Germany has been a continuous subject of discussion but the history of its immigrants – contract workers, foreign students and political emigrants – is often ignored. These invisible immigrants came from Vietnam, Mozambique, Angola, Cuba and Chile to the German Democratic Republic with the hope of a good future. Initiated by Berlin Institute of Technology and Out of Focus (Berlin-based documentary film producer), the project Eigensinn im Bruderland (“Stubbornness in the brother country”) provides insight into the personal life of migrants in the GDR with well-written texts and videos. The website won Germany’s prestigious Grimme Online Award in 2020.
Designed by Susanne Beer of Zoff collective, the website is set in two typefaces that both have their roots in GDR.
PTL Superla was originally designed as Super Grotesk in 1932 by Arno Drescher, the typeface was redrawn as Super by Karl-Heinz Lange for phototypesetting in 1984. Ole Schäfer of Primetype collaborated with Karl-Heinz Lange to produce the digital version: the typefaces were redrawn and extended, and published in 2009 as PTL Superla.
JAF Lapture is based on Albert Kapr’s Leipziger Antiqua typeface, released in 1971 by the East German foundry Typoart. It has been digitized, extended and redesigned by Tim Ahrens in 2004.
