German Schoolwear Garments: School Lunch Satchels


Figure 1.--This German school boy is unidentified, but we believe he was photographed in the 1900s. The CDV portrait was from the Karl Kruse studio and reads "Burg B/M. Gdb". I'm not sure what that means. He has both a lunch satchel and school book satchel. Notice his gift cone which he appears to have efficiently emptied.

We also notice a smaller satchel or case worn over one shoulder. We had thought that it was a pencil case, but our German readers tell me that it was a liunch case. This is apparently the German version of the lunch box that American boys carried to school. These small bags are called Kindergartentäschchen. They are usually used by the children to carry their food with them, when they go to kindergarten or first grade. A German reader tells us, "I think it's interesting to see it with a normal school stachel or Schulranzen. But it may be used for the same purpose. Remember the unidentified school image? These kids wore also Kindergartentäschchen and you assumed they were primary school children. My sister and I wore also a Kindergartentäschchen to Kindergarten and we did get Schultüten on our first day, too." They came in different shapes. The one here is cylindrical (figure 1). Other images we have seen have a more box-like shape.

Chronology

We are not sure about the chronology of these little satchels. We have no information omn the 18th century. We believe that they were used in the 19ty century, but because our archive of 19th century German images is limited, we can not yet comfirm this. We know that they were uised in the early-20th century. We see many children with them in the early-20th century. They were not as common as book satchels, but we do see quite a number in the photographic record. re anbd after World War I. They seem to have disappeared during World War II. Perhaps a factor here was the fact that leather was a critical material. Even so, we do not see them reappearing in Germany after the War.

Age

Much of our information comes from the photographic record. These little leather satchels see common in First Day portraits for the younger children. We do not see them very commonly with older children. Thus they seem to be strongly associated with younger children. This is confirmed by the fact that a term for them was Kindergartentäschchen. We know, however, that they were notg just for Kinndergateners. We see younger primary children with them as well. The unidentified boy here in his First Day porteait is a good example (figure 1).

Purpose

We also notice a smaller satchel or case worn over one shoulder. We had thought that it was a pencil case, but our German readers tell me that it was a liunch case. This is apparently the German version of the lunch box that American boys carried to school. Only it is mostly younger children we see with them and not all younger children. Thus we think that some children carried their lunch in their book satchels. We are actually not sure why a separate case was needed for the lunches. And we are not sure what the older children did for lunch that did not have book satchels.

Terminology

These small bags are called Kindergartentäschchen. They are usually used by the children to carry their food with them, when they go to kindergarten or first grade. A HBC reader tells us, "During the 1950s in primary school many schoolchildren had a little bag for their food. We called that bag " Ein Brotbeutel " or more currently " Ein Jausebeutel " this last term seems unknow in Germany today."

Shapes

They little lunch satchels came in different shapes. The one here is cylindrical (figure 1). Other images we have seen have a more box-like shape.

Reader Comments

A German reader tells us, "I think it's interesting to see it with a normal school stachel or Schulranzen. But it may be used for the same purpose. Remember the unidentified school image? These kids wore also Kindergartentäschchen and you assumed they were primary school children. My sister and I wore also a Kindergartentäschchen to Kindergarten and we did get Schultüten on our first day, too."









HBC






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Created: November 15, 2002
Last updated: 5:45 PM 11/3/2010