Figure 1.--Here we see a German primary class with all the boys wearing short pats. The photograoph is undated, but we woud guess was taken in the early-1950s. The boys look to be about 8-9 years of age. Several boys are wearing sweaters. We would guess it is late-Spring or early-Fall.

We see German boys wearing a variety of pants to school in the late-19th and early-20th century, including knee pants. We do not see short pants until the 20th century, especially after World War I in the 1920s. Gradually after World War I, short pants became more and more common in Germany. Almost all German boys wore shrt pants in the inter-War era. Many boys wore them year round. A factor here was long stockings. We see children, both boys and girls wearing long stockings during the winter months. The first shorts were long like knee pants. Gradually we see shorter lengths. The schools did not play a role here. They did not set rules. This was essentially a family decission. We note that in the 1920s and 30s boys often began to shift to long pants for school at about age 15 years. We see more boys wearing long pants or knickers looking like ski-pants in the 1940s. A factor here was the Hitler Youth which adopted a kind of ski-pants winter uniform. Some boys began wearing longs earlier, others later. In some cases boys wore knickers in between the transition from short to long pants. Short pants were very popular for school wear through the 1950s. We still see many school portraits where all the boys are wearing short pants. The photograph here is a good example (figure 1). This began to change by the late-1950s as shorts began to become more seasonl wear. Shorts were, however, still common in the early-60s. With the 1960s, shorts began to be seen as casual seasonal clothing and began to be less commonly worn in school. Jeans became increasingly common, although not at first for school. This trend was particularly pronounced by the 1980s and longs pants become more and more standard for school.

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Created: 12:44 AM 2/9/2013
Last updated: 12:44 AM 2/9/2013