Figure 1.--Here we see German children going to school in the morning, probably during the 1930s. Notice the weather is warm. The boy in the middle has rolled down his long stockings, either because of the weather or because he didn't like wearing them. Notice that the socks and stockings are all tan. One of the interesting aspects of these old German photographs is how few cars and trucks are on the streets. .

These Old photographs provide interesting insights on all kinds of cultural, economic, and social topics in addition to the fashion topics we address on HBC. Here we see German children going to school in the morning, probably during the 1930s. Notice the weather is warm. The boy in the middle has rolled down his long stockings, either because of the weather or because he didn't like wearing them. Notice that the socks and stockings are all tan. One of the interesting aspects of these old German photographs is how few cars and trucks are on the streets.

Hosiery

Here we see German children going to school in the morning, probably during the 1930s. The children wore both short socks and long stockings. Notice the weather is warm. The boy in the middle has rolled down his long stockings. Some mothers had definite dates as to when the children shifted from stockings tgo socks. Others went more by the weather. We do not know just why the boy rolled down his stockings. We assume it was either because of the weather or because he didn't like wearing them. Notice that he is also wearing a jacket. Also note that the socks and stockings are all tan. This also helps to date the image to the 1930s.

Shoes

The children wear three different types of shoes. The girl wears plain low-cut oxfords. These shoes help date the snapshot to the 1930s. The boy in the center wears high-top leather shoes. These were standards in the early 20th century through the 1940s. The boy on the right wears strap shoes. Footwear conventions in Germany before World War II was not as gender specific as it became after the war. Notice the girl here wears what we would probably consider a boy's shoe today and the boy wears strap shoes which are now considered a girls' school.

Satchels

Two of the children have school satchels. We are not sure why the the boy in the center dies not have one. Surely he was still in school. The boy and girl with satvches are probably siblings because they are dressed similarly. A German reader writes, "Please note the two forms of the bags ("Ranzen" in German), the shorter cover of the Ranzen of the girl and the full cover of the Ranzen of the small boy, a typical distinction (I don't know the reason for it)." Also note the smaller leather case the boy has. That was for the linch.

Cars and Trucks

One of the interesting aspects of these old German photographs is how few cars and trucks are on the streets. A German reader writes, "Yes,in deed, in these days there were not many cars and trucks on the streets. Do we like to have it again, no problems with getting gaz, no problem with parking - and good for health to walk -, as the three children did it!" This is notable because the children do not live in a rural village. Look down the street. This is a town or small city. And except for the delivery truck, there is not one motor vehicle in sight. An remember that Germany was the most industrialized country in Europe. This is no minor detail. At the time this photograph was taken, the German Government was planning a war to conquer the world based largely on using the country's industrial might. Hitler and the NAZIs launched a massive rearmament program to build modern mechanized, highly mobile armies. Yet as we see here, most Germans did not have cars. And Germany did not have the massive automobile industry which could be converted to building the tanks, armored cars, trucks, and aircrft engines needed to overwealm the enenemies it created.