Figure 1.--Here we see a German father with his two sons in the family parlor. I think he is a policeman rather than an army officer. The snapshot is not dated, but looks like the late-1930s. Note that thevboys are dressed in identical sailor suits. They look to be about 5-8 years of age. The younger boy wears high top shoes and the older boys strap shoes. What we do not know is if that was mother's choice or what the boys selected or if each had the two types of shoes to chose from.

We see far fewer older boys wearing the high-top shoes, especially by the end of the decade. Younger boys wore these high-top shoes into the 1950s. The high top shoes seem most common for pre-teen boys, mostly boys uo to about 8-9 years of age, especially by the end of the decade. Most older boys and many younger boys wore low-cut oxfords. I think some German mothers considered hightops healthier for younger children as they offered more support. We at first thought strap shoes were most common for younger boys, but we think it may have been the hightops. There may have been differebnces from family. We see some older boys wearing hightop shoes, but on ballanvce they seem nore common with the younger boys. One aspect that we are not sure about is that some children may have had both hightop and strap shoes and may have decided on their own what to wear. Here we are just not sure. We do see many children wearing sandals and strap shoes. The strap shoes may have been more comfortable to wear, but sometimes boys do not like to wear garments and shoes that girls wear. Here there was a wide age range. Of course many older girls wore strap shoes. We see older boys wearing strap shoes and sandals than high top shoes, although this is just our initial assessment. There were many types and styles of these strap shoes/sanadals worn. Low cut lace shoes were most common wuith older boys, but we so see some younger boys watring them.

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Created: 3:01 AM 11/4/2013
Last updated: 3:01 AM 11/4/2013