Anführungszeichen

Quotation marks are punctuation marks that appear at the beginning and end of direct speech, a literal quote, or the quoted title or name of a work. In the latter case, they may be omitted if the title or name can be recognized as such without them, due to the work's notoriety (as in the case of the Federal Law Gazette, the Criminal Code, or Meyers Conversations-Lexicon). Quotation marks can also be used to highlight words, phrases, and parts of a text or word that one wishes to comment on, make a statement about, or distance oneself from, perhaps ironically or by implying a different meaning. These uses are collectively referred to as the modal function (from modal ~ designating the manner).