German School Book Bags / Satchels: Types

Figure 1.--The boys here are looking at clothes for sports, playing, and camping (written on the black chalk board). This is a useful impage because the back view gices us a good look at the boys' school satchels. This looks to have been taken in the 1950s. The boy on the left wears the classic style satcjel (note there is no rag and sponge attached). The boy on the left wears amore modern style. The straps ate thiner and the satchel is not as voluminous.

The book bags worm by German children appear to have been the standard style worn on the back. Almost all the German book satchels we have noted have shoulder-supporting backstraps. There were some differences. The basic satchel was a boxy design. There were difference s to how wide it was. The Length generally was made to extend to th boy's waist. They seem quite substantial for primary school children, room for plenty of books. It is not always clear because so many of the available photographs are front views of the children and often all we can see are the supporting straps over the shoulders. Some of the satchels had flat and others had rounded tops. We are not sure when this classic style of school satchel first appeared. This style as far as we can tell was worn throughout the 19th century. And we see the same stles during the earkly 2oth centry. We do not see different styles until well after World War II. We do see some satchels with minor changes in the 1950s. A boy here wears pne with a newwer look (figure 1). Here you can see that the children are nolonger using sklates a scool, because there are no rags and sponges attached to their satchels. Book bags are still popular in Germany and there are many different kinds. Many of the more moder styles are probably better described as book bags rather than satchels. Some of the popular brannds are: Scout (usually for primary school children) and Diesel, 4You (for older school children).

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Created: 6:47 AM 2/12/2009
Last updated: 3:13 PM 4/5/2009