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We have found information on quite a few individual schools during the 1940s. These are archived in the country pages which we will link here. We are gradually expanding our coverage of the more important countries. We also have found images that are dated, but we are unsure about the country--although most are European. We often can guess about the country involved, but can not be positive. These unidentified images are useful to see trends during the decade in other countries besides the larger countries for which we have information. And as we do not know the country involved, here seems to be the best place to archive the images.
We notice some major changes at American schools during the 1940s. Some older styles like knickers and long stockings disappeared during the 1940s. We still see them at the beginning of the decade, but not by the end of the decade. Some younger boys wore short pants to school in the early 40s, but by the end of the decade short pants were much less common. Most boys swore long pants to school. Bib-front overalls are another style that declined sharply during the decade. While we do not commonly see them at the end of the decade, many boys in elementary school did wear jeans which were not very common at the beginning of the decade. The decline in bib-front overalls reflects both increasing prosperity, but also the disaapearance of sometimes sharp difference in the clothing worn in rural areas. We alsp see fewer and fewer children coming to school barefoot. This seems to be an indicator of growing affluence. Most children wore ankle socks. Sneakers might be worn in elementary school, but not in high school.
The 1940s include 4 yeears of German occupation (1940-44) and the dofficult economic conditions following the war. The French Republic had secularized French schools in the 1870s. The NAZIs did not interfere with French schools except to fire Jewish teachers and search for Jewish children. The Vichy regime also implemented anti-Semetic policies did institute dreforms to strengthen the role of the Church in education. France was not heavily damaged during the German invasion (May-June 1940). There was much more damage as a result of Allied bombing (1942-44) and the liberation (June-August 1944). School portraits show that clothing varied widely. There were no uniforms except at a few private schools. Smocks were widely worn at some schools and not worn at others. We note a wide range of styles and colors. Most boys wore short pants. A few oldr bous wore knickers. We see some boys wearing berets during the Wr,but for some reason berets rpidly went out of style after the War. Children clothes were hard to obtain during the ccupation and the period after the War when the economy was recovering.
The 1940s was a very difficult time with World War II occurring during the first half of the decade. War devwstated much of Europe. Switzerland was one of the few countries to avoid the War, but the economy was impaired. Switzerland was a trading nation and its normal markets were disrupted. This meant that less money was available to Swiss families for consumer products like Switzerland. We see Swiss children wearing clothes similar to those in neighboring France and Germany. The children wear short pants with knee socks during the warmer months. Children in rural schools might come to school barefoot. CHIldren both boys and girls in French-speaking areas commonly wore pinafores. We see some German speaking girls weaing pinafores, but it was not nearly as common as in the French spealing areas. During the winter, long stockings were very common. We see some boys wearing knickers rather than short pant in the colder months. Thecfull cut plus-fours seem the most popular style. LOng pants were not very common except for the older boys in secondary school. Only a minority of the children went on to secindary school, especially the more advanced ones beyond Sekundar.
Here we will archive the schools that we have identified, but do know the date that the image was taken. In some cases we can guess about the country.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
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Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
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