Figure 1.--Here is a German boy in the 1920s on the way to school with his Zuckertute goody cone. There the children would compare their cones, but not allowed to wear them until after school. |
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I didn't think that the boys actaully took the Zuckertüten to school, but German readers tell me that they did. Some photographs show that many children did so (figure 1). As we understand how the first day with the cones worked, the children werr given them in the morning. I do not know if they were allowed to see them before the morning. The children then took them to school on their first day. And they had to go through the whole first day without getting into them. That must have been very frustrating for the children. But also their must hve been some children who didn't get cones or who got smaller cones That also must have left some children feeling bad.
What a temptation this must have been for the children--especially 6 yeatrs olds. They had to sit through an entire school day. A German reader tells us, "Of course, every little student carries it proudly to school. We were not allowed to open them until we returned home after school. Oh, that waiting was hard." Another reader writes, "It is true that the children brought the Schultüten to school and had to wait till being home again. They were then also collecting more contents from grandmothers, aunts, neighbors." HBC is amazed that children that age carted their cones around all day long without opening them. I don't think that would work in America. A German reader provides some more detailed information, "Well, it was not quite as difficult for the children beginning school as HBC imagines. School for beginners is only 2 or 3 hours, beginning at 10 am. Then they go home with their parents and relatives. (in former days - it is now beginning to be different -, school children always went home at noon or a little later. We had no "Ganztagsschule" (aa day school). This a new word, influenced by developments in the former DDR. Children came home for lunch, and only for older ones there were classes in the afternoon on one or two days."
This all seems quite a charming custom. Given the different finances of families, especially in the late 19th and early 20th century, there must have been children from families that could not afford these cones. Seems like that would be a little sad to have to go to school where all the other kids had cones. It would have not been so bad if this was all done at home, but the cones were brought to school. Given the age of the children, this must have been a very sad day for the children without cones or with puny little cones. A German reader doesn't think it was much of a problem. He writes, "Although from an afluent family, I can't remember to have gotten a Schultüte in 194. Probably because of the War. I am not so convinced that children from poorer families didn't get a Schultüte. There were always relatives with children already in school for some time to lend out one for a younger one. I think that more the contents was a problem for poorer families (may be better for the teeth, not so much sugar and chocolate!). In todays prosperous Germany there are rarely families that can not afford these cones. A German reader writes, "Well, it is surly a question or what a family can afford. Maybe today families with less money give their children cheaper cones but in former times lots of families were so poor they couldn't afford any Schultüte."
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