Figure 1.--This German primary school class was photographed in 1925. We weren't sure what "Denkl" means. I am guessing it is the name of a town or village. The school was coeducational. This was often the case of a small village school which cold not afford separate schools. German schools in the 1920s were still commonly single-gender schools. Note the number of boys wearing sailor suits. The boys wear short pants with both long stockings and socks. A German reader writes, "I suppose that the name of the village "Denkl" is an abbreviation of "Denklingen", a village to the southwest of Munich in Bavaria (there is another one with the same name in Nordrhein-Westfalen; there the abbreviation 'Denkl' seems not to be in use)."

We note primary boys coming to school in just shirts during the 1920s and sweaters when the weathern turned chilly. Some boys wore jackets and even suits, bit this was much less common than before World war I. We see many boys wearing Schiller collars. Some boys wore sailor suits. Most boys wore short pants, often held up by suspenders. After the War, economic conditions were difficult. Many children were barefoot. Long stockings were commonly worn during the winter. Girls often wore pinafores. The children that went on to secondary schools still dresses more formally. Most boys in secondary schools wore suits, but often not with ties. Younger boys in secndary school might wear sailor suits. Most boys except the oldest wore short pants or somdetimes knickers. Gradually knee socks were becoming increasingly common.

Peterwitzer School (1920s)

The Peterwitzer Sch ool was a school in Silesia. A reader has brovided some images from the 1920s-40s. At the time Silesia was part of Germany. After World War II it was transferred to Poland and the Germans expelled. Some of the ohotographs seem to have been taken during school trips. Unfortunately we have no further details on the school. The boys in 1925 mostly wear collared shirts. We see both white and colored shirts. Most are buttoned to the collar. One boy wears a polo-stule shirt. The boys wear short pants, many with suspenders. . One boy wears kneesocks, but most boys are barefoot. Some boys seep to be wearing inexpensive cloth shoes.We note one boy wearing fancy H-bar traps, but most wear suspenders. Many of the girls wear pinafores. Many boys have close-cropped hair.

Hannover Gymnasium (1921)

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 Heinrich Strasse 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.

Bomst School (1923)

The photo was taken in primary school of Bomst/Babimost on April 4, 1923. At the time the village was in eastern Germany. Thus tis was a German school. We can't read the text, but it is almost certainlt written in German. A 1871 census reported a population of about 2,300 people, almost evenly split among ethnic Germans and Poles as well as 160 Jews. The local indusries were shoe manifacturers, linen producers and hops (beer) and wine producers. We do not have a 1920s census, but it likely that the village contined to have a substsantial German and Polish population. Here the boys seem to be wearing suits wth knee pants and long pants. Many are barefoot. The girls wear dresses, many with pinafors. The teacher is rather informally dressed with a knickers suit and what looks like strap shoes.

Unidentitified Catholic Primary School (1924)

We know very little about this school except that it was Catholic. We see both a priest and a nun. The children all look like younger boys and girls which would mean that this was a primary school. The children look to all be barefoot. This might be considered a poverty indcator. The children, however, all look very well dressed. Germany experienced a crippling inflantion spiral in the early 1920s. The Currency was not stabilized until Novemver 1923. The economy finally began to improve in 1924, but by this time the German middle-class was devestated. Afew of the boys wear sailor suits. We also see Schiller collars. There is a mix of lapel jackets and collar buttoning jackets. Its more difficult to see what the girls are wearing, but several wear dark-colored pinafores with patterns,

Hof Moschendorf School (1924)

Here we see the primary school at Moschendorf, a section of the town of Hof in Bavaria . Hof is located in northern Bavaria near Saxony border, on the Saale River. The school apparently did not have a name, but rather was jusjy known as the Hof Moschendorf School. It must have been a subtantial school with several different classes. We have two portraits taken in 1924. The girls mostly wear pinafores over their dresses. The boys wear suits, including a few sailor suits. Almost all the girls are barefoot. We can not see the boys, but they are presumably barefoot also. These portraits. are a good reflection of the difficult economic conditions in post-World War I Germany. Most pre-War school portraits show German children wearing shoes, especially in city schools.

Unknown School (about 1925)

This class in about 1925 shows boys dressed in both sailor suits and regular suits in about equal proportins. Two of the boys wear sailor suits, but the boys in regular suits seem to be wearing mostly short pants, but with calf-length instead of knee socks. There may be one girl and one boys wears a velvet suit. The boys seem to vary in age from about 7 to 9 years of age.

Unknown School (about 1925)

This class in about 1925 shows boys dressed in both sailor suits and regular suits, although the regular suits are slightly more common. All of the boys appear to be wearing short pants. There is one child with long hair who is almost certainly a boy. Several boys wear smocks of many varied styles. The boys seem to vary in age from about 9 to 11 years of age.

Denkl School (1925)

This German primary school class was photographed in 1925. We weren't sure what "Denkl" means. I am guessing it is the name of a town or village. The school was coeducational. This was often the case of a small village school which cold not afford separate schools. German schools in the 1920s were still commonly single-gender schools. Note the number of boys wearing sailor suits. The boys wear short pants with both long stockings and socks. A German reader writes, "I suppose that the name of the village "Denkl" is an abbreviation of "Denklingen", a village to the southwest of Munich in Bavaria (there is another one with the same name in Nordrhein-Westfalen; there the abbreviation 'Denkl' seems not to be in use)."

Berlin Kindergarten (1925)

We do not notice German boys wearing pinafores to primary school. We do see a few Kindergarten children wearing pinarores. We do not know if this was just in their classrooms. We note both boys and girls wearing pinafores. They seem to be the same style for both boys and girls. We do not know how common this was. We note Swiss children commonly wearing pinafores to school, but this seems more common with French than German speking Swiss communities. We also do not know if wearing pinafores in Germany was regional. such as close to Switzerland. The pinafores seem to be very simple, practical ones. They also look colorful. We are not sure about the chronology here. Tne image was dated to the 1920s. They do not seem to have been required. Perhaps the teachers encouraged the mothers to purchase them.

Unidentified Secondary School (1926)

This photograph of a group of mid-level Gymnasium boys was taken in 1926 during the Weimar Republic period. We don't know the name of the school or the exact location. The boys look almost like they are wearing a school uniform, but in fact their suits are different. It ws common for boys to wear short pants and knee pants. Some what less common here is the uniformity in hosiery which was usually more varied. Often we see German boys during the 1920s wearing a mixture of knee socks and long stockings. There also tended to be variations in the colors.

Unidentified Primary School (1926)

This photograph of an unidentified German class was taken in 1926. It shows a mixed class with the teacher standing at the rear (left side). Many of the boys are wearing sailor suits, but none of the girls. The boys wear knee pants or long-cut short trousers. Notice that all of the children or wearing dark (mostly black) long stockings. Even though it does not seem a cold day, none of the children are wearing socks. Long stockings were still quite common, but not uiversal. There are some boys in the back row that have a different style of suits. All the children seem to be quite dressed up--perhaps for some sort of outing. They don't seem to be in front of their school, but their teacher is with them. We don't know the location but the date (1926) is definite.

Altenau Primary School (1927)

Here we see the primary school of Altenau, a village in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony. The school portrait we have is from 1927. It seems to be a typical small village chool. We can't tell much about the schoolfrom the details in the background. The age range of te children suggests that it was quite a small school. Most of the girls wear pinafores. e know pre-school boys also wore pinafors at the time. It was much lss common for boys to wear pinafores to school. We have no indication about the season, but some children are wearing coats or heavy jackets. Almost all children are wearing boots, however in the front row a girl wears strap shoes; a girl and a boy are barefoot. The boy wears also a garment that covers only the ankles.

St. Peter im Swarzwald (1928-29)

The class portrait was taken during the school year 1928-29 at the primary school of St. Peter im Schwarzwald, a municipality in Baden-Württemberg. Schwarzwald meant Black Forest. We suspect that it was a Catholic school because the area was lagely Catholic. The name of the school does not necsarily suggest that it was Catholic as many Protesant (Luthern) schools were named after the saints. This is an interesting photograph in that the boys seem dressed differently than was commn in Gemany at the time. It was not a small village school as can be seen in the background. The substantial building is presumbly the school. The children, however, are mostly barefoot as you might expect at a small village school. All of the boys are barefoot and most of the girls. The pivture was prsumaby taken after the Wall Street stock market crash. It would seriously affect German, but the impact would take more than a few months to begin to filter trough and affect children's clothing. Note it was a warm day. You can tell that by the clothing the children are wearing and the fac tht tghere are leaves on the trees. Also interesting is the fact that the boys are wearing long pants or longish pants, even in war, weather. That was not very common for boys this age at the time. Again it suggess a conservative rural community, rather than a town school. Also unusual re te shirt like jackets the bys wear. Many if the girls wear pinafores.

Volkshule Dortmund-Kirchenlinde (1929)

This is a class photo of the Volkshule Dortmund-Kirchenlinde--a class of boys in the upper division of the school. Many of these boys were preparing to be teachers although the school is not specifically a school for teachers. The source tells us that most of the boys in this class were 14 years old with perhaps a few a year or so younger. We would guess that they are avout 12-13 years old. That is just the age that would mean that they were soldiers at the time that Hitler launched Worrld war II (1939). So many would have died at an early age. The boys are wearing standard schoolboy clothes for the 1920s--suits with knee trousers, and long black stockings. We see different jacket styles, including sailor suits. Many of them wear Schiller collars with their jackets. No one seems to be wearing ties. Only the teacher wears a necktie. The boys all seem to be wearing high-top leather shoes.

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Created: 4:23 PM 5/30/2007
Last updated: 2:47 PM 7/8/2015