Figure 1.--This image shows a German primay school class about 1910. As was often the case, the teacher was a man. We wonder though who the rwo girls are.
|
Figure 1.--This image shows a German primay school class about 1910. As was often the case, the teacher was a man. We wonder though who the rwo girls are. |
We estimate that this undated class photograph was taken about 1910. It is a high quality image allowing us to examine the boy's outfits in considerable detail. Sailor suits were very popular and several boys wear lederhosen. Two boys go barefoot, we suspect that this was a indicator of poverty We are not sure who the girls in the photograph were.
This class photograph unfortunately was undated. We think the number of boys with shaved heads and sailor suits suggest that ot was a pre-World War I (1914-18) image, perhaps about 1910. It could, however, have been taken as late as the early 1920s. Hopefully our German readers will help date it with more precission.
There are no identifying marks on the photograph. The look of the boys and their hair styles suggest that it was German. The number of boys wearing lederhosen or lederhosen-like outfits suggests that it may have been sourthern German, perghaps Bavarian. Until after World War I, lederhosen were highly regional in Germany.
There are 29 boys in this photograph. This is consistent with the general pattern for these photographs of about 30 children per class. These boys look quite young, perhaps avout 6-7 years old. We suspect that these were the youngest boys at the school or the next to youngest.
Figure 2.--The nost popular outfit for these boys was the sailor suit or other middy vlouse outfits. Several boys, however, wore lederhosen. Most of the boys had either very close-cropped hair cuts or bangs. Notice the pencil cases that many of the boys catty. |
This was an all boy school. We have seen some photographs of mixed classes. This probably varied somewhat among the German states. Also it is likely that small rural schools were mixed while urban states were more likely to be single gender schools. This was a city or town school. Note the entry way. While not grandiose by any means, it suggests a substantial building. There are, however two girls in the portrait. We are unsure who they are. Botha are older than the boys so theu are not students. Is it possible that the teacher had his children pose with the boys. Did older girls help as a kind of classroom assistant. Hopefully our German readers can offer some insughts here.
The teacher appaers to be arelatively young man, about 30 years of age. There were women teachers, especially in promary school, but most teachers in boys' schools or for boys' classes were men--even for the younger primary grades.
The majority of boys in this class wore sailor suits and quite a few boys wore lederhosen There were also a variety of other outfits worn by the boys.
There is no idea as to what kind of hats and caps the boys wore. We suspect that there were a lot of sailor caps.
The majority of boys in this class wore sailor suits. Several boys wear stand sailor suits with classic styling. Other boys wear just the middy blouses with both traditional and non-traditional styling. Some boys wear blousses or shorts with just a hint of sailor styling. There are both dark and light suits so we are ot sire about the season. day.
Other than the sailor suit we note only one boy wearing a younger boy's suit. It looks to be a kind of tunic suit with a low belt (figure 3). I'm not sure what color it was.
We do not notice any boys wearing bows.
Almost all of the boys wear solid color long-sleeved shirts. We do not notice any patterened shirts at all. This is another indication that the image was a pre-World War I portrait. Quite a few boys wear a variety of shirtys without jackets or sweters.
Figure 3.--This image shows the range of outfits, especially the sailor suits and lederhosen. One boy here wears a kind of juvenile boy's suit--I'm not sure what to call it. He is the only boy sressed like that. |
As far as we can tell, all of the boys wear short pants or kneesocks. Many boys have suspenders to hold theor pants up.
Quite a few boys wore lederhosen There were also a variety of other outfits worn by the boys. We see five boys that appear to be wearing ledehosen. At least one of the boys , however, looks to have a halter in the lederhosen style, but do not look to be leather.
As most boys wear kneepants with socks rather than stockings, we suspect that it was a nice Spring. We only note one boy who appaers to be wearing long stockings. His dark long stockings are another pre-World War indicator. The girl at the white wears white long stockings.
Most boyswear sturdy high-top shoes. We do not notice any sandals or sneakers. A few boys go barefoot--we suspect that might have been an indication of poverty. One boy at the left wears strap shoes, Im not sure about the color.
Most of the boys had either very close-cropped hair cuts or bangs.
None of the boys have book back packs that German boys so commonly took to school. We suspect that they lefts these by their desks or in the cloke room. Many of the boys have learger cases that they are wearing on straps around their necks. We assume that these are for pencils and iother school supplies. I'm not sure why they brought these with them outdoors for the photograph.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1880s]
[The 1890s]
[The 1900s]
[The 1910s]
[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
[The 1990s]
Navigate the German school pages
[Return to the Main individual German school page]
[Return to the Main German 1910s page]
[Return to the Main German school uniform page]
[Imperial Germany]
[Weimar Republic]
[NAZI era]
[Post-war Years]
[Modern Germany]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Bibliographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[German glossary]
[Satellite sites]
[Boys' Clothing Home]