** Russian school uniform: individual schools








Individual Russian/Soviet Schools


Figure 1.--.

We hope to add information about individual Russian schools here. At this time we have very little information. We have found some school images, but often the school is not named. Hopefully our Russian readers will provide us some information about their schools. This is a valuable section in our effort to better understand Russian education. Here we are including both Russian schools and during the Tsarist and Soviet eras not only Russian, but schools in other parts of the vast Tsarist and Soviet empires. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians were only one part of the country, but at times only about half of a vast multi-ethnic empire. At times, the various ethnic groups were tolerated. Tsar Alexander III began hisRussifuation process (late-19th century). This changed dramtically when the Soviet Union emploded and Russia became a much more purely Russian ethnic state.

Aptek School (1981)

A reader found an image of what he believes to be the Aptek School. He thinks it may be the Artex School because the Russian P and R or similar. Artex is a well known Young Pioneer camp in the Crimea. The children here are not campers. Perhaps there was a school for the children of the adult staff. We are not sure. The photograph we have was taken in 1981. It looks to be a first year or even a kindergarten class. The children wear their regular clothes rather than a school uniform. The boys wear short pants and the firls dresses. There is arange of hosiery, including ankle sock, knee socks and tights. Several of the girls have hair bows which were common in Soviet-era schools.

Estonian Tartu/Jurjev School (1913)

Here we have a school in Tartu/Jurjev duing 1913. This is a city in southeast Estonia southeast of Tallinn, at the time a part of the Russian Empire. Tartu has a fasinating history. The location has anient origins as a fortified place. The first written reference comes from Kievian Rus (1030). Germans played an important role in the city's history and Tartu was a part of the Hanseatic League. Russia seized Tartu (1704) as part of the epic Great Northern War. Estonia became independent at the end of World War I. Tartu is Estonia's second largest city and often seen as the country's intelectul cpital, in part because of the prestigious University of Tartu. Tartu was at the center of the Romantic nationalist movement emeging in the mid-19th century. Tartu hosted Estonia's first song festival (1869). Vanemuine, the first national theater was fonded in Tartu (1870). Tartu was also the location where the Society of Estonian Writers was founded (1872). At the same time, Estonia like Poland and the restof the Baltics was affected by Tsar Alexander III's Russifcation policies. The name of the city was officially changed to the ancient Russian name Yuryev (1893). The Russification of th University began (1895). Th Russian lanage was made compulsory in classroom teaching. With Estonian independence, the Russian imperial university was relocated to Voronezh (1918). The Estonian University of Tartu opened a year later (1919). We are not sure just what kind of school is represented here. What we see is a class with something like 60 children, both boys and girls. It looks to us like it was the beginning class in a secondary school. The children look to be about 10-11 years old. What we do not know is the ethnicity of the children which would have included Estonians, Germans, and Russians. Cities in the Naltics tended to have relatively small numbers of the the larger national ethnic group. (There were few Jews in Estonia compared to the other Baltic republics.) We think the language of instruction would have been Russian ecause of Alexnder's Russifuction process, but we are not sure about that. The blackboard writing does not seem to be Cyrilic, but e only have two ltters to go on. date Notice the boy with a globe. The children were probably proud to have a modern instructional item. Many of the girls wear pinafores, but we only see one small hairbow. The boys wear various garments. We think we see miitary-styled jackets, but there also may be tynics or even smocks. The boys all have short hair, but not as severely cropped as we see in many Russian schools at the time.

Immigrant School: German Speaking School (1936)

Here we see an interesting historical photo of the third grade in a school for German speaking (Austrain and German) immigrants to Russia located on 'Kropotkin-Strasse' (Kropotkin Street) in Moscow. This was not an international school in the sence of we think of it today. Rather it was for the children of German speaking Communuists that had managed to escape from NAZI Germany. The Anchluss in Austria had not yet occurred when this photograph was taken, but would occur 2 years later meaning that Austrian Communists would have to try to escape the NAZIs. Notice the red scarves the children wear, a clear indication that they are young Communists. This school would prove a very valuable for future officials in the East German satellite government after World War II, that is the many individuals who did not survive Stalin's scrutiny. I believe there were similar schools where other Eastern European (Bukgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia) children were educated, but do not have complete details at this time. The photograph here was taken in 1936. The school was named after Karl Leibknecht, a German convert to Soviet politics. Someone has written across the photo in white ink, identifying the school and the class level photographed. The children are about 8 to 9 years old. Notice that they wear a variety of clothing. Some boys wear long trousers (notice the boy in the back row at the extreme right who wears a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and a scarf, possibly of the Young Pioneers, although it looks too dark to be bright red). A few other students also wear the same scarf, some tying it and other wearing it passed through a metal ring or slide. Possibly it was the school scarf that many are wearing. One boy sitting in the front row wears a sailor suit with short pants. Two boys sitting near him wear short pants with long dark stockings. None of the boys wears a conventional tie which, in most cases, the dark neckerchief replaces. This was the school attended by the well-known film director Konrad Wolf whose family emigrated to the Soviet Union after the NAZIs seized power (19330. Wolf later attended the Moscow Film School where he studied directing.

Moscow Unidentified Primary School (1934)

This is an unidentified Moscow primary class in 1934. Some of the boys seem to be wearing smocks. We are not sure how common that was in Russia. One boy in the front row is wearing a sailor suit. Most of the boys seem to be in short trousers and long stockings. The children seem to be quite middle-class if that is not a misnomer in Soviet society in the 1930s. Notice that there are two teachers. We see other classes with two teachers. One may be a teacher's helper.

Tajik Dunshanbe School (1972)

This photograph was taken in 1972 in Dushanbe. At the time, Tajikistan ws still part of the Soviet Union. It shows a 4th grade school class. Many children are wearing white shirts. We also believe that they were wearing blue shorts/skirts, but this is difficult to tell. As far as we can tell, the boys and girls are wearing the same shirts. This apparently was the school uniform. Note that a few children wear shirts with epauettes and a shoulder pathch. I'm not sure if this was the school uniform or Young Pioneer uniform. If it is the school uniform, we are not sure why so few children are wearing them. The uniform does not seem to be required, but most children are wearing it. I'm unsure to what extent the children were required to wear the uniform. Note that many children are wearing young pioneer scarves. I'm not sure why only some of the children are wearing the scarves. This may be an age matter. Perhaps they were not yet old enough to join the Pioneers. There were no strict rules about the uniform. It seems that only white shirt and red neckerchief are mandatory. There are no rules about hosiery and footwear. Here many children wear sandals without socks.

Rostov Yaroslavl School (1915)

Yaroslavl-Rostov is a city in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. Rostov is located in Russia's Russian heartland, northeast of Moscow. Rostov is a town in western Russia, on the banks of the vast Lake Nero. It’s known for the Rostov Kremlin, whose fortified towers (17th century). The ornate, domed Cathedral of the Assumption stands within its walls. The Museum of the Frog Princess is dedicated to Russian fairy tales. To the southwest is the restored Monastery of St. Jacob Savior (14th century). It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities northeast of Moscow that played an important role in Russian history. We see the school in 1915 at the onset of World War I. All the children are boys. Rural village chools were commoknly coed, but city schools where there were more children were udsully single-gender schools. The boys look to be about 10 years old. Thy have have close-cropped hair. Most wear the classic Russian tunics. There are two adults, a woman and older man with an impressive beard. He mau be the school principal. The children are posed by what looks like the gate to the school.

Unidentified Russian School No. 9 (1960)

This school is identified, but we cannot read the Cyliric script other than No. 9. Many Russian schools had numbrs rather than names. We can make out that it was the 1960-61 school year. As the children are holding flowers to be presented to the teacher, we are guessing that it is the first day of school in 1960. Given the subtantial brick building in the background, it is clearly a town school. We are not sure if the No. 9 means the ninth school in a small town or the ninth school in a neigborhood of a city. The rough construction suggests to us tht it is probably not Moscow or Leningradm but perhaps readers will have some insights here. Many of the girls wear white pinafores that were popular for schoolwear. About half the children wear red Pioneer scarves. We are not sure why some of the children are not wearing them. Perhaps not all had earned them or many of the children did not take the scarves seriousy. There are three adults associated with the class, the man is presumably the principal of the school. The women may be a teacher and a teacher'snhelper. It was a fourth grade class, meaning that the children are about 9 years old. As it was 4-B, there were at least two 4th grade classes which gives some idea about the size of the school.







HBC-SU







Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s]



Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Return to the Main country page]
[Return to the Main Russian page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Kneesocks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main Russian school uniform page] [Return to the Main school uniform page]
[Main National School Uniform Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Ireland] [Italy] [Japan] [New Zealand] [The Philippines] [Poland] [Scotland]
[South Africa] [United States]



Navigate the HBC School Section
[About Us]
[Activities] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Debate] [Economics] [Garment] [Gender] [Hair] [History] [Home trends] [Literary characters]
[School types] [Significance] [Transport and travel [Uniform regulations] [Year level] [Other topics]
[Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]







Created: May 19, 2004
Last updated: 1:33 AM 2/4/2017