Figure 1.--Here we have an unidentified German boy with his Zuckertute on thefirst day of school (figure 1). All we know about the portrait is that it was taken in 1927. The boy here wears a sailor capwitha little different suit than we generally notedf by 1927. He wears a collar buttoning jaclet with an Eton-like colla and knee pants that do not match the jacket. He also wears white long stockings and rather unsusual buckle shoes. We are guessing here that his mother was very fashion conscious. We have also thought that it was a little mean to send these children to school with these cones, but not allow them to dig into them until they came home. We are not entirely sure wjhen these first day portraits were taken. Did mother drag them to the photographic studio after school? Or perhaps the next day or so. We are guessing that the cones had been cleared out by the time the portrait was taken. A reader writes, "I think the boys stockings are light tan and not white because the collar is white and it looks different." I'm not sure white stockings will look precisely the same as a white collar, but our reader may be correct. If the stockings are a fawn or light brown thy certainly seem a very light shade.

We have quite a number of these images from the 1900s through the 1930s, but we notice these photographs through to modern tomes. The boys wore quite a variety of outfits. Most boys were dressed up by their mothers. Other boys appear to have just worn regular school clothes. Sailor suits were a clear favorite in the early 20th century. Boys did not alwas wear sailot hats with their sailor suits. But boys wore many other styles as well. The outfits become more casual after World War II, especially by the 1960s. As far as we can tell the first day portrait was not a well established tradition until the turn of the 20th century. Certainly the appearance of cameras which made family snapshots possible made such portraits much easier to take, but through the 1940s many of these photographs are studio portraits. We note the Zuckertute throughout the 20th century.

The 1900s

Walter Hulbert (1900s)

This little German boy was elegantly dressed for his first day of school. This was a carte de viste (CDV) image which together with the outfit the boy wears suggest that his portrait was probably taken in the 1900s. He wears an army type peaked cap with a sailorsuit. The sailorsuit has a rather fancy short jacket as well as a formal collar I have not commonly seen worn with sailor suits. It is a bloomer knickers suit. The button shoes in particular suggest the 1900s. The boys elegant suit suggests he came from an affluent family. He has a large gift cone.

Unidentified Berlin Brothers (1900s)

Here we have a CDV portrait of two boys, presumably brothers. All we know about the portrait is that it was taken in Berlin. We would guess that it was taken about 1905. The boys hold a slate written in old German script: "Unseren ersten Schulgang", i.e., "Our first school walk". I assume that means the first day of school. The boys are dressed alike. There outfits look rather like a uniform, but I think that they are brothers and mother has dressed them alike. They wear caps which look rather like peaked caps. They have blouced jackets wth ties, kneepants, and long stockings. Note the book satchels and lunch holders.

Unidentified Boy (1900s)

These two German boys also look to be photographed in the 1900s, although the image is undated. We assume that they are brothers, both because they were photographed together. They are dressed differently with different kneepants outfits. One boy has a bow and the other a kind of knitted shirt. It is the matching tams that strongly suggest that they are broothers

The 1910s

Unidentified Boy (Late 1910s)

An image shows a German boy wearing a kneepants sailor suit for his first day of school. It is a non-traditional kneepants sailor suit without the "V" collar. He wears a soft cap with streamer and dark long stockings. He has a very large gift cone ("zuckertute"). He has a book bag on his back, leacing his arms free for his cone. The portrait is undated, but the clothes and photography suggest the 1910s, probably before World War I.

The 1920s

The photographic record reflects the fact that a first day photograph was an important family tradition. By the 1920s not only do we see many studio portraits, but fa,ily snapshits as well. We note large numbers of boys wearing sailor suits or sailor caps, but there were other popular styles. Some boys wore cadet-style caps with their sailor suits. Boys wore other styles of suits. Most boys wore suits, usuallhy knee pants suits with long stockings. Here both the age of the boys and the seasin were factors. We suspect that when the weather warmed up in May and June that many of the boys would wear kneesocks rather than long stockings.

The 1930s

Eckard (Early 1930s)

This German boy was photographed on his first day of school, probably in the early 1930s. This was a photo postcard sent to realtives in America to commemorate the occassion. The post mark is unclear, but the stamp has Hindenburg on it. (In America only deceased people can be pictured on stamps, but this was not the case in Germany.) Hindenburg was elected president in 1932 (defeating Hitler) and died in 1934. This would date the card at about 1932-36. After 1935-36, the card would have more likely had a Hitler stamp on it. The boy wears a short pants suit with very large buttons along with long stockings and high-top shoes. Note the light colored stockings. Before World War I (1914-18), dark colored stockings would have been more common. A HBC reader belives that they were wool socks because of the lines of heavy material. Cotton socks are usually more sheer. The rather long shorts also suggest the early 1930s. He appaers to wear a very informal collarless shirt under his jacket. One HBC reader believes that it might be the dickey of a middy blouse. That is a possibility, but the color does not look right and we see none of the blouse. Perhaps the jacket was not meant to be taken off. Also notice the rather unusual collar. Note his school case and cone ("zuckertute"). Also note his sailor cap and streamers with the "Rhineland" hat band. I thought it might be a famous battleship from World War I. A German reader reports, "The cap on the picture says Rheinland (Rhineland) (a name of a region but in this case possibly a ships name). Under the treaty of Versailles, the Rhineland was demilitarized. Perhaps boys wore it as a kind of protest. Hitler remilitarized in 1936, but this photograph almost certainly was taken before that. We wonder about the choice of a sailor cap, but not a sailor suit. For years German boys, especially younger boys, wore sailor suits to school. This boy's sailor cap may be a vestage of that tradition. Although it can not be seen, the boy also wears a leather book bag, notice his shoulder straps. The message on the back of the card reads, "Eckard sendet Euch allen von seinem ersten Schulgange die besten Grüsse. Auch von uns seid vielmals gegrüsst. Walter" In English this read "Eckard sends you all best whishes on his first day at school. Kind regards from us too [‘Be greeted many times from us too’]. Walter"

Unidentified Boy (Early 1930s)

This is another unidentified image which we believe was taken in the early 1930s. He wears a kind of flat cap, a style similar to those worn in America at the time. In the early 30s it would have been seen as rather stylish in Germany at the time. For some reason this boy kept his overcoar on for his portrait. He wears a book satchel and some kind of cloth tied to it.

Unidentified Boy (1931)

We do not have this boy's name. Thanks to a slate we know his first day of school was in 1931. This boy wears a cap, which I do not know how to describe, a sweater, long short pants, and white stockings. His Zuckertute was crowned by a toy rabbit. This boy appears to have done quite well on his first day of school--thereis a second Zuckertute on the chair behind him.

Unidentified Boy: (The 1930s)

We do not have this boy's name. The image is undated, but we believe that it was taken in the 1930s, but the late 20s is also possible. He wears a Alpine had and lederhosen with the common "H" halter. He has a very large necktie and has rolled up his sleeves. He has white kneesocks with tassles and high top hoes. Unlike many boys at the time, this boy does not seem to have received a gift cone. He does have a classic school satchel.

The 1940s

We notice fewer first day photographs during the 1940s. Of course World War II and the resulting and the difficult post-War era resulted in fewer such photographs being taken. The ones that we do see in the post-War era seem to be more from the Western than the Eastern sector. We wonder if the Communist authorities in the Soviet (Eastern) occupation zone disciraged the practice.

The 1950s

We begin to see the German first day of school photographs commonly again in the 1950s. Here a factor was the rapidly improving economy--the German Economiv Miracle. The portraits we have found look to have been done mostly in the Allied (Western) occupation zone. We are not sure just why this was, but the more prosperous Western economy was certainly a factor.

Unidentified Boy (1957)

Here we have have an unidentified German boy on his first day of school. Many of these photographs before World War II were formal studio portreaits. After the War, family sapshots like the photograph here were more common. While we do not know the boy;s name, we do know the portrait was taken in 1957. Given his clothese, we would guess that he might be from Bavaria. The boy wears a plaid shirt with halter and Lederhosen. He also wears paterned kneesocks and high-top shoes. Younger boys still wore high-top shoes in the 1950s. He has a small school cone. After the War the children tended to have more moderate sized cones than we sometimes see before the War. He has a classic school stachel, but note that the eraser cloth/spomge is not attached. Also note that he does not have the small lunch carrier that we often see before the War.

The 1980s

German Girl (The 1980s)

A Grman reader provides an account of her first day in school, "I was not aware that there are no Schultüten in other countries! I am from the north of Germany. My first school day was in 1985. I had a Schultüte. We had a litte Schulanfangsfeier in school where teachers welcomed us and pupils from grades 3 and 4 did a theater play for us. My parents were with me (some other families were accompanied by grandparents, aunts, etc.) After that we were called by our teachers and went to the class rooms. There our teacher read a story for us and we drew a picture. That was all for the first day in school. In the afternoon the grandparents came and there was a little Feier with cake and coffee, etc. They gave me a Schultüte, too (this was my luck, not everyone gets more than one Schultüte). I am female but for girls these habits are the same as for boys."

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Created: November 14, 2002
Last updated: 12:38 AM 1/14/2007