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Long stockings by the 1960s in many parts of Germany had become old-fashioned and out of style, especially when worn with short trousers. I was born in 1949 and until First Communion all boys in most parts of Germany wore short trousers, often with long stockings. In our area, a region of small towns, most schoolboys in primary school wore long stockings and short lederhosen at least up to the age of 10. By the early 1960s, however, the long stockings and garters for them got hidden under long trousers. My aunt who raised as a step mother had very conservative attitudes about all this. Long trousers became an emblem of greater maturity. But younger boys in the 1950s were kept conscious of their childhood by being outfitted in short trousers, and this was especially true if the shorts were combined with long stockings, as was frequently the case.
Long stockings by the 1960s in many parts of Germany had become old-fashioned and out of style, especially when worn with short trousers. Boys dressed in this way might be teased by the other children dressed more fashionably.
I was born in 1949 and grew up in a small town in West Germany. I can scarcely remember my birth-mother because she died early, and I was raised by an older aunt. By the age of 9 I had virtually acquired a stepmother. She came from East Germany-DDR originally, having fled to the west before the Iron Curtain was permanently lowered. We had briefly visited her part of the family in the mining country from which she came.
Boys in in most parts of Germany wore short trousers at least until First Communion. Many boys wore long stockings in the early 1950s and this continued into the 1960s, especially in Easter Germany. In our area, a region of small towns, most schoolboys in primary school wore long stockings and short lederhosen at least up to the age of 10. By the early 1960s, however, the long stockings and garters for them got hidden under long trousers. Long trousers became an emblem of greater maturity. But younger boys in the 1950s were kept conscious of their childhood by being outfitted in short trousers, and this was especially true if the shorts were combined with long stockings, as was frequently the case. I soon realized that in the GDR it was usual for boys to wear long stockings until the 1970s.
My stepmother brought with her from the east her habits and attitudes including the conviction that a boy had to obey his parents quite strictly. She just didn't think boys should have much to say about how they were dressed. I think this was quite common before the Wa, but had become much less true by thetime I was a boy. Thus, in 1959, I belonged to the group of boys who up to their entrance into high school had to wear short lederhosen and long stockings for ordinary school wear. I remember that in the autumn of 1959 I refused one morning to put on long stockings for school. My stepmother was with us a long time, and she was not one for arguments with boys about their clothing. She quickly put me over her knee and gave me a good spanking on my behind. After this experience I rarely rebelled, because I saw the handwriting on the wall. From that day forward I wore my Leibchen and long stockings every day to school without complaining.
Up until the time I had countless scenes and quarrels about having to wear lng stockings. I can remember quite a few of them. quite vividly. On vacations, while we were at some camp site, warm summer weather naturally encouraged short trousers, but I still wore long stockings because of my step mother. And almost without exception adults in my family saw this as appropriate. In conservative circles short trousers were especially popular. Not all boys wore them with with long stockings. This varied from family to family. I gradually accepted all this as a fact of life as we quarled less over it.
When I entered High School I got “knee pants” (close fitting knickers that fasten below the knee), but after school I had to take off my school clothes and put on short lederhosen again for playing with my friends.
At the age of 14 I still had to go shopping in the city in the company of my stepmother. Fortunately there were two other boys who went with us on shopping expeditions who also had struict parents and were dressed in similar clothes.
As for the girls in our region, they always wore long stockings with their dresses. Even so, other boys sometimes laughed at us because of our old-fashioned shorts and long stockings. But for my stepmother it was an absolute principle that I should bow to her will and obey her wishes in the matter of personal appearance. And we knew only too well that disobedience in the matter of clothing regulations was a sure guarantee of punishment.
At the age of 15 I was allowed to wear long trousers more or less on a regular basis, but I still had to wear long stockings underneath. Sometimes instead of a Leibchen with garter straps I wore a garter belt fastened by buttons to my underwear; this fitted around my abdomen. I was also never permitted to wear a belt that could slip down and separate my trousers from my shirt. It was part of the pact I had with my stepmother that I should always wear suspenders to hold my trousers in place. This was considered the proper way for a well-behaved boy to dress. But I continued to wear long stockings until 1968 because my stepmother was quite insistent about this. By then I had become accustomed to long stockings and didn't really think much about it anymore.
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