Figure 1.--This photograph from the Ecole Traon Quizac. It is undated, but we would guess the late 1940s, but more probably the early 1850s. I'm not sure which class this was. The boys look to be about 10 years old. Most of the noys wear short pants, but a few wear lng pants. A few also wear smocks. Click on the image to see the rest of the class.

Here we note a school which we believe is the Ecole Traon Quizac. Unfortunaely we know almosdt nothing about the school. It appears to be a state primary school, but we know virtually nothing about the school. We think it is French. We would guess it is a city school. It seems to be in Brest. The internet site writes, "Nos souvenirs d’hier Nous avons construit ce site pour que les générations futures connaissent la reconstruction de Brest après la guerre 1939-1945." Brest is an important French sea port and located on a peninsular jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. The Germans during the War turned it into an important base to support the U-boat fleet in the North Atlantic. The Germans built bomb-proof U-boat pens, so the Allies bombed the transport links into the pens. As a result the city was very heavily damaged. The images here show the school in the difficult period after the war when the city was recovering. The available photographs suggest that the classes were separated by gender. There was no uniform or dress code as far as we can tell. The children wear there own clothes so the school portraits are a good reflection of contemporary styles. We see boys wearing a range of shirts, jackets, and sweaters. Many boys wear short pants, but long pants were also worn. A few boys wear long knickers. One boy has suspender shorts crossed in front. Some boys wore smocks, but they were not required. Many of the smocks worn by boys were front-buttoning smocks, but bot all of them. More girls wore smocks, but they were mostly back buttoning smocks. The children wear quite a variety of shoes. A few boys wear homemade (wood?) shoes. Some boys wear closed toe sandals and sneakers. Unfortunately many of the available images are not dated. The school has an interesting internert site. We do not fully understand it as there seem to be images from other schools included as well. Hopefully our French readers will be able to tell us more about the school.

Brest

It seems to be in Brest. The internet site writes, "Nos souvenirs d’hier Nous avons construit ce site pour que les générations futures connaissent la reconstruction de Brest après la guerre 1939-1945." Brest is an important French sea port and located on a peninsular jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.

World War II

The Germans during the War turned it into an important base to support the U-boat fleet in the North Atlantic. The Germans built bomb-proof U-boat pens, so the Allies bombed the transport links into the pens. As a result the city was very heavily damaged.

Rebuilding Brest

The images here show the school in the difficult period after the war when the city was recovering. It appears that the site linked below documents barracks life (la vie en baraques), during the reconstruction of Brest after World War WII. Some people continued to live in that "temporary" housing until 1970.

The School

Here we note a school which we believe is the Ecole Traon Quizac. Unfortunaely we know almosdt nothing about the school. It appears to be a state primary school, but we know virtually nothing about the school. We think it is French. We would guess it is a city school. The available photographs suggest that the classes were separated by gender. Hopefully our French readers will be able to tell us more about the school.

School Clothes

There was no uniform or dress code as far as we can tell. The children wear there own clothes so the school portraits are a good reflection of contemporary styles. We see boys wearing a range of shirts, jackets, and sweaters. Many boys wear short pants, but long pants were also worn. A few boys wear long knickers. One boy has suspender shorts crossed in front. Some boys wore smocks, but they were not required. Many of the smocks worn by boys were front-buttoning smocks, but bot all of them. More girls wore smocks, but they were mostly back buttoning smocks. The children wear quite a variety of shoes. A few boys wear homemade (wood?) shoes. Some boys wear closed toe sandals and sneakers.

School Internet Site

Unfortunately many of the available images are not dated. The school has an interesting internert site. We do not fully understand it as there seem to be images from other schools included as well.

French School Internet Sites

This page illustrates an interesting phenomenon. A HBC reader writes, "Note that the best-documented French schools are the ones in places that exist only in the past, such as French North Africa or the barracks used during the reconstruction of Brest." We have noted many more school internet sites in Britain. There do not, however, seem to be a lot of sites in other European countries like Germany and Italy. Our reader is certainly right that there are a lot of French school sites, but they are mostly schools that were located in North Africa or to a lesser extent choolsd in Frane that hasve closed.

Created: 3:52 PM 11/23/20044
Last updated: 8:42 PM 5/16/2005