Figure 1.-- This is a Gymnasium class in 1921. We are not entirely sure what the school waas called. Presumably there was more than one gymnasium in Hannover. The boys look to be about 14-15 years old. They don't wear uniforms, although they are very similarly dressed in their school caps with black shiny visors. This is a public school, but German secondary schools such as gymnasia at the time were academically selective. And most were gender specific. Many working-class families either did not value education or needed children once they finished primary school to contribute financially to the family. Thus most of these boys would have been from middle-class families. The class here seems rather small. There are only 11 boys. We are not entirely sure why that was.

This is a Gymnasium class in 1921. We are not entirely sure what the school waas called. Presumably there was more than one gymnasium in Hannover. The photograph was taken in Hannover which we believe means the city rather than the state in general. The picture was taken in Hanover. The phoographer was located at Heinrich Strasse 15. The school was undoubtedly located in that part of the city. So until we can find a better name, we will refer to it as the Hannover Gymnasium. The boys look to be about 14-15 years old. They don't wear uniforms, although they are very similarly dressed in their school caps with black shiny visors. This was the only uniform item. The boys all wear suits as was common at the time. This was probably more widely accepted convention than school rules. Only two of the boys wear a necktie with their suits. The others wear mostly Schiller colars open at the neck, although two boys look as though their suit jackets were worn with only an undershirt beneath (back row, second from right; front row, second from left). The teacher, formally dressed with a wing collar and three-piece suit, sits in the center. This is a public school, but German secondary schools such as gumnasia at the time were academically selective. And most were gender specific. Many working-class families either did not value education or needed children once they finished primary school to contribute financially to the family. Thus most of these boys would have been from middle-class families. The class here seems rather small. There are only 11 boys. We are not entirely sure why that was.

The School

This is a Gymnasium which is a selective secondary school. We are not entirely sure what the school waas called. Presumably there was more than one gymnasium in Hannover. The photograph was taken in Hannover which we believe means the city rather than the state in general. The picture was taken in Hanover. The phoographer was located at Heinrich Strasse 15. The school was undoubtedly located in that part of the city. So until we can find a better name, we will refer to it as the Hannover Gymnasium. This is a public school, but German secondary schools such as gumnasia at the time were academically selective. And most were gender specific. Many working-class families either did not value education or needed children once they finished primary school to contribute financially to the family. Thus most of these boys would have been from middle-class families.

Chronology

The class portrait was taken in 1921. This was right after World War I. The small class size may reflect the difficult economic conditions. The school was a public school, but there were cosdts to attend a gymnasium, including books and materials. And of course it meant the boy was not working and brining in income. Thus economic conditions can affect attendance.

The Class

The class here seems rather small. There are only 11 boys. We are not entirely sure why that was. The boys look to be about 14-15 years old. This would place them in about the middkle of the school. A ggymnasium is asecondary school, but the academic program begins a about age 11 yeears.

Clothing

The boys don't wear uniforms, although they are very similarly dressed in their school caps with black shiny visors. This was the only uniform item. The boys all wear suits as was common at the time. This was probably more widely accepted convention than school rules. Only two of the boys wear a necktie with their suits. The others wear mostly Schiller collars open at the neck, although two boys look as though their suit jackets were worn with only an undershirt beneath (back row, second from right; front row, second from left). Another boy looks to be wearing a dickey, although it could be a crew-neck undershirt. One question we have about the clothes here if if the boy in the back row is wearing a dickey? A German reader is not sure if it is a dickery or an undershirt. An American reader wwrites, "It might be a dickey. It looks like a modern tee-shirt, but I don't think these existed in 1921. Most boys look to have bare chest or perhaps they are wearing singlet-typr undershirts." That is HBC's question. We know sailor suits were worn with dickies, but I am not sure this was the case with dickies. And I tend to think this was a dickie because I do not know if T shirts with such high crew necks existed. At any case we do not see many boys wearing dickies or crew-neck "T"shirts like this. The trousers are somewhat varied as well. Most of the boys seem to be wearing knee trousers with black long stockings, but one or two boys apparently wear breeches or tight knickers that fasten below the knee (also worn with black long stockings). Virtually all of he boys are wearing black long stockin\gs without any variance. Such uniformnity bin a school without a unifiorm is unusual. One boy (front row, extreme left) appears to be wearing long trousers. Age-grading is apparently not an issue here, since all the boys look to be about the same age (i.e. in their lower teens, 14 or 15). The teacher, formally dressed with a wing collar and three-piece suit, sits in the center.

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Created: 4:07 PM 8/6/2009
Last updated: 4:18 PM 8/6/2009