German School Clothes:  Individual School Portraits


Figure 1.--Here we see a commercial postcard, we think from the 1920s, that showsa a boy beginning school with his Zuckertute. While this is a commercial post card, many children had their portrait taken on the occassion of their first day of school.

It is a tradition on a child's first day of school in many countries to take a photograph. Sometimes this was done formally, but more common a snapshot was taken at home. The photographs show not only the child's clothing, but often book bags and even flowers or other gifts for the teacher. We suspect the child in figure 2 above may have been photographed on his forst day of school. This tradition is less formal today, although children are much photographed than ever before. We also notice portraits in subsequent years--"Zur Erinnerung an Mine Schulzeit". These portraits seem much less common than the first day portraits.

First Day Portraits

It is a tradition on a child's first day of school in many countries to take a photograph. Sometimes this was done formally, but more common a snapshot was taken at home. The photographs show not only the child's clothing and in Germany the traditional gift cone or ("Zuckertute") This tradition is less formal today, although children are much photographed than ever before. German boys often wore sailor suits to school on their first day as this was such a popular style for boys, especially younger boys. Many other styles were also worn. Commonly they were short pants outfits until long pants began to be more popular in the 1960s.

School Rememberances

We also notice portraits in subsequent years--"Zur Erinnerung an Mine Schulzeit". That means "To Remember My School Days By". These portraits seem much less common than the first day portraits. We are not sure if they were taken at school each year or just when the children were finishing primary school. A example is an unidentified Chimnitz boy, we think in the late 1920s. We note an unidentified German boy off to school in 1931. Hopefully our German readers will tell us more about these portraits.







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Created: 7:02 PM 3/14/2007
Last updated: 7:02 PM 3/14/2007