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The German economic miracle transformed Germany in the 1950s. Germany rebuilt its economy and in the process its cities. Germans by the end of the decade, at least West Germans, were more prosperous than they had been before World War II--a remarakable achievement, The new prosperity significantly affected family life. Germans could aford to dress well. Most Germans had a more extensive wardrobe than before the War. This was especially the case of the working class, Germans could once include luxuries like dressy clothes for weddings and elaborate wedding ceremonies. This was especially true by the end of the decade. Another trend in the 1950s was a movement away from Christianity. Church attendance began a long decline that would become increasingly pronounced in coming decades and lead essentially to the de-Christianization of Germany. This is a process that can be observed in most other European countries (Poland here was an exception), but not the United States. Many Germans even if they were losing their Christian beliefs still wanted a church wedding, in part because their families expected this. The situation was different in Coimmunist East Germany where the Government actively discouraged church membership and promoted aethism in both schools and the work place.
Here we see a church wedding ceremony (figure 1). It is undated, but we believe was taken in the late-1950s. It looks like a Protestant wedding. It does not look like a particularly elaborate wedding. Notice that the younger boys wear white knee socks, but the older boys wears ankle socks. The ring bearer wears a simple white shirt, colored short pants (we are unsure about the color probably light blue), and white knee aocks. Notice his bowtie.
This seems to be aroyal wedding cremony, but we do not know wjo the royal couple is. The Germans had many royal houses for the different principlities, some related to the British royal family. This is all in afdditionl to the royal family--the Hohnzollerns. Thus royal weddings were not rare events. The weddibg ouple here look to be an oler couple. We see a royal crown. The sign says 'Hoch lebe Köningspaar" meaning something like 'Long liv the royal couple'. There are three page boys weaing white shirts, bow ties, white knee socks, and black leather shoes. The portrait is undated. We would giess it was taken in the late-1950s, but the early 60s is possible.
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