Figure 1.--This German brother and sister were photographed in their backyard, probably about 1930. The boy wears cloed-toe sandals rather like English school sandals.

HBC has noted a variety of footwear worn by German boys. There have been significant variations overtime. We note a wide variety of shoes, sandals, boots and other footwear like clogs or wooden shoes. Many boys wore heavy boot-like shoes in the ealy 20th century. Working-class or farm children might wear wooden shoes. We do not notice clogs in the many images of school children. While German children wore rather heavy shoes in the early 20th century, after World War I (1914-18) we see children wearing closed toe sandals, especially in the Weimar Era. The English school sandal, the "T"-strap style, appears to have been popular. The NAZIs seem to have discouraged sandals, at least for school-age children. Low cut oxfords gradually replaced the high top-style, although both were worn, even n the 1940s. After world War II we see sandals becoming increasingly common, but the open-toe style and not the closed-toe style that had been popular earlier. Sneakers became popular in the 1970s as was the case in the rest of Europe.

Boots

We notice many German boys wearing boot-like shoes, but we don't note a lot of boys wearing boots in Germany. One exception here is the Wangervogel boys in the early 20th century. We do note more boys wearing boots in the 1930s, perhaps because of the Hitler Youth program. Our information, however,is still very limited. One fashion trend we note is boys folding their kneesocks down when wearing boots so they look more like ankle socks.

Shoes

High-top Shoes

Our information on high-top shoes in Germany is still quite limited, primarily because our 19th century archive is not yet very large, We begin to see high-top shoes in America after the Civil War (1861-65). We suspect that the time line in Germany is similar, in p[art because of technological developments. High-tops became the dominant shoe style in America, not only for boys and girls, but for adult men and women as well. We know that hightops were being widely worn in Germany by the 1870s. But we are not sure that they were as pervasive as in America. This needes to be confirmed. We continue to see high-tops intop the early-20th century, a [eriod for whuich we jhave mnore information. We seem to find a greater variety of footwear in Germany than in America. The appearsmce of high-tops after the mid-19th century seems to have been a fashion development. By the early-20th century we begin to see high-tops being marketed as more healthy for children because of the support they offered. We are not sure if the same occurred in Germany as we have less access to marketing literature and catalogs. We note, hoever that German mothers choosing fotwear for children that did not offer support like srtarp shoes and sanfdals. These styles seem more popular in Germany than America. We assume seasonal factyors were at playn here mneaning that German children might have both strap shoes/sandals and high-top shoes which were worn seasonally. There seem to have been less gender differences than in America. Agter World War I, high-top shoes continued to be worn by Herman boys, but gradually declined in popularity. They seem to have over time become primarily a boys's style. We continue to see them after World War II into the late-40s. We assume they were still worn in the early-50s, but we have not yet found examples.

Oxford low-cut Shoes

Low-cut Oxford styles shoes became increasingly popular in the 1920s. Gradually they became worn more and more in the 1930s. They were especially common among older boys. Many younger boys wore the boot-like shoes rather than the low-cut oxfords. They have since become the primary boys' style.

Sneakers

HBC has not noted German boys wearing canvas sneakers before World War II (1939-45). This contrasts with boys in many other countries who were wearing sneakers. They were most common in America, but we have noted boys in many other countrids wearing them, even before the War. This is not the case in Germany. We do not know why. Only about the 1970s have we noted German boys wearing them.

Strap Shoes

HBC has only limited information about strap shoes in Germany at this time. Strap shoes appear to have been less popular than in France, but they were also worn by German boys. German boys wore different kinds of strap shoes. Boys from affluent families might wear leather strap shoes. We see them wearing these shoes both for formal dress up occassions as well as for play. These boys wearing strap shoes for formal wear are primarily younger boys, often with white socks. It was not just younger boys wearing them. Occasional images how that even school age boys and occasionally younger teenagers wore them. Usually these older boys are wearing strap shoes as a casual shoe much as boys today wear sneakers. Some of these more informal strap shoes appear to be made of canvas rather than leather. Strap shoes might be worn by boys from affluent families. White socks, especially white kneesocks were commonly worn with strap shoes. The popularity of strap shoes, except for very young boys, declined after 1933 with the rise to power of the NAZIs. Strap shoes appear most common during the early 20th century, but some boy wore them into the 1950s.

Sandals

Sandals were popular in Germany as was the case in much of Europe. Closed-toe sandals were worn in the early 20th century. German boys in the early 20th century wore much the same sandal styles as in England and Germany. While not as common as in these countries, many German boys did wear them. Sandals declined in popularity during the 1930s. Sandals were largeely shunned under the NAZIs, although younger boys might still wear them. While English and French photographs during the 1930s often show boys wearing sandals, German images of boys wearing sandals are much less common. It is especially rare to see Hitler Youth boys wearing sandals. After the War sandals were again widely worn by German boys. After World War II, boys began wearing open-toe sandals. German boys wore different styles than the British ones. From the 1950s to the early 70s nearly every German boy wore them, but from the mid-1980s on boys began to look on sandals as girlish. Some mothers liked the style, however, and insisted on their boys wearing them during the summer.

Wooden Shoes

Boys from working-class families in the 19th and early 20th century might wear wooden shoes, especially in northwestern Germany near the Netherlands. They would have mostly been worn by boys from families with modest incomes. Working-class boys in the cities and peasant boys in rural areas.

Clogs

We notice a few German boys wearing clogs in the 1970s. I'm not sure what the Grman term is. We do not know how popularthey were. In America during the 70s, a few boys wore clogs, but they were more popular for girls. They were not a very practical style for active boys to wea as they would fall off if the boy started to run. The clogs worn in america had leather tops and wooden soles. I assume the same was the case in Germany. The images we have noted come from West Germany. I do not kno if they were worn in East Germany.

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Created: 6:14 PM 10/20/2004
Last updated: 12:32 AM 8/18/2013