The German Rex is a breed with a naturally-occurring curly coat. It is the continental cousin of the Cornish Rex—a similar mutation occurred in Berlin as had occurred in Cornwall, and in fact some early German rexes were used as foundation stock for the Cornish. However, the German Rex became a separate breed as it developed primarily in East Germany (GDR), on the opposite side of the Iron Curtain from the majority of the cat fancy. A few cats were imported westwards to Britain and America in the late 1960s, but the other rex breeds were easier to obtain and were developing a flashier type more suited to American cat fanciers. The East German cats were bred in isolation, and retained a more moderate type similar to their landrace ancestor, the European Shorthair.

Although accepted by FIFe in 1982, the breed nearly died out. By 1999, there were only two known fertile German Rex females. One failed to produce any litters, and another was bred to an Abyssinian male. This litter produced kittens, and over time the breed recovered, using additional Berlin-area curly cats and “lost” lines of German Rex from obscure breeders. Numbers today remain very small, and the breed is only accepted by FIFe as most breeders are German.

Type & judging remarks
The German Rex has a moderate, gently rounded type. It is “medium” in all regards. The coat is curly, without guard hairs or bare patches.