Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift

Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift
Type	heavy-line script mixed-Abugida stenography
Languages	German
Creator	expert committee
Time period	1924-present
Parent systems	Gabelsberger shorthand Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift (German Unified Shorthand), or DEK is a German stenography system. The original version was officially introduced in 1924. In 1936 and 1968, revised versions were introduced. Since the 1968 reform the shorthand is written in three levels: Verkehrsschrift, Eilschrift and Redeschrift (business script, speed script, and speech script). (These terms, however, were used already some years before that.) Verkehrsschrift can be produced at a rate of 100 to 120 Syllables per minute. Eilschrift and particularly Redeschrift employ contractions and other simplifications to a far greater extent, making rates of up to 475 syllables per minute possible.

The latest reform of the Einheitskurzschrift was concluded in Vienna in 1962 after many years of work, and officially introduced into the German educational system in Mainz in 1968 by the German Kultusministerkonferenz (state conference on education and media) as the Wiener Urkunde ('Vienna Document') titled Systemurkunde der Deutschen Einheitskurzschrift – Wiener Urkunde – vom 1. August 1968. This may be considered largely the brainchild of Georg Paucker, who (as representative of the German Confederation of Trade Unions) applied himself particularly to the reform negotiations regarding Verkehrsschrift.

There have sometimes been different efforts to create simpler shorthand systems which can be learned in a shorter time. One of these alternative systems is Stiefografie.

External links (German language pages)

• Systemurkunde der Deutschen Einheitskurzschrift - Wiener Urkunde (Document of the german unified shorthand)
• Deutscher Stenografenbund e. V. (German shorthand association)
• Bundesjugend für Computer, Kurzschrift und Medien (vormals Deutsche Stenografenjugend) (Youth league of the german shorthand association)
• Forschungs- und Ausbildungsstätte für Kurzschrift und Textverarbeitung in Bayreuth E. V. (Research and educational institution for shorthand and text processing in Bayreuth)
• Online converter